Chambre commune

A sweet little holiday movie about gay men finding family among themselves. Three stories that eventually interconnect at a New Year's Eve party. It is only 1 hour 15 minutes long, so it is a quick watch. It is a gay movie with a happy ending, as it should be for fans of holiday movies.

This is from director Rob Williams who brought us 'Make the Yuletide gay' – which I quite enjoyed on the superficial level that it was designed to be. 'Shared Room's similarly a bit one dimensional in the scenes it sets up an the depth of those that inhabit said scenes. There are three related stories of gay men and the sex they have during the festive season according to the blurb.

That is correct but is mis represents the lack of depth that happens here. There is one character who actually does really well and that is probably because his role has some space to grow and that is the long lost nephew of Cal's that turns up after being thrown out. Some of the themes could have been expanded and more could have been made of the 'awkward' moments that were often that so contrived.

What would have saved this is a dose of good acting and/or a better script, and in places both do come together, but it is so rare, this is like an ebb and flow of 'interesting' and as such so does the viewers fervour to watch more. Not a disaster but not one you will ever rave about either.

Some of the actors were very good- some were ok- just like any film- _ a little bit 2 much thrown in so that there wasn't 1 vignette/story that seemed 2 get the depth and screen time it deserved- so U feel mildly elated at the generic happy endings- there was enough story here 2 make it a short series- 2 more fully tell the individual stories_ = there is some good comedy- mostly from uncle cal and oslo and from the accountant..__and there was a true Christmas miracle reunion at the end of the movie- so that's good_ there aren't that many enjoyable HoliGay movies- so watch this 1

Very nice film. Great for a romantic date by the fire with a glass of wine and a man in your arms. Most of the cast was great, the plot was ok, the production was cheap but good. There are three, interconnected, stories, not all being believable enough. It leaves you with a bitter sweet taste because the ending was rushed but at the same time you feel that it didn't have anything else to say. Maybe if the three stories were more developed or maybe if we knew what happens next. I don't know, it was just like a fairly good first episode of a tv series where you are forced to wait for next week's?

Shared Rooms (2016)

Is a no angst gay rom-com written and directed by Rob Williams who brought us 'Make the Yuletide Gay'

This is another "Holigay" film that's intended to be light entertainment and it succeeds on that level. The story involves 4 gay couples with their stories told in an intertwining manner only to have them all close the loop; Couple 1 are an accountant and a screenwriter who open the film lamenting (over a Christmas dinner?) to couple 4 about the way that their social circle is shrinking as their gay friends are getting married and switching from partying to parenting. Of course couple 4 reveals that they are in the surrogacy process and expecting a baby themselves soon.

Couple 2 involves two men who are meeting on Christmas day for the first time thanks to a "manhunter" (Grindr/Tindr?) date. They discover that not only do they have sexual chemistry but quite a few other things in common as well.

Couple 3 involves two roommates who've shared digs for over a year with one traveling extensively. The traveler returns unexpectedly to find that his flatmate has turned his bedroom into a gay B&B and his room is actually rented out. Of course the two end up sharing the other bedroom and both discover... While couple 4's story isn't really developed, we actually get a fifth couple when the teen aged nephew of one of the guys in couple 1 gets thrown out of his own home and comes to lodge with his Guncle.

The stories all come together at a "Steve Not Eve" New Year's party.

The acting is genuinely not bad, the actors are good looking if not strikingly handsome, the production values are adequate, and whilst there are unlikely plot developments, there are few of the cringe-worthy moments that kept me from ever really enjoying the director's earlier 'Make the Yuletide Gay'

At only 75 minutes this film requires little time, and since it's streaming free with Amazon Prime, little investment. This is not an epiphany generating film with tremendous amounts of fiber and food for thought of the greater issues, but it is a candy cane of a movie. Light and sweet and perfect for the holidays.