28 Hotel Rooms (2012)

Pretty Good

Don't Believe the Hype

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

This movie is excellent. The acting is impressive, especially Chris Messina. The two main characters are captivating, and the movie grabs you attention and never lets it go. Despite the fact that it takes place entirely in hotel rooms, the movie is interesting, thought provoking, and will take your emotions all over the place. It doesn't need fancy scenery or special effects, the acting and story line do all work. What I consider to be a hallmark of a great movie is that you still think and care about it afterwards. This movie is original and makes you think, and could quite possibly cause you to feel differently about the black and white world of infidelity, maybe there are shades of gray. I have re-watched this twice now, it feels real when so much out there is fake.

She is from Seattle; he is based in New York. He is a novelist; she is a data miner. They travel in their work and meet now and then. They are rather guarded about their personal information, but are obviously attracted to one another. They get to know each other over time. She reads his book and likes it.Eventually they talk about anything and everything. Their careers change over time. They discuss the meaning of what they do. They deal with life events.When he is about to get married (she has been for some time), they talk about dropping their mates and marrying each other. But somehow it does not happen.They have some tough times as well, such as when they talk about why they have not married each other. The ambivalence shines through again.Some of their pretend conversations about possible lives together are fantasy, but still priceless. The acting by Chris Messina and Marin Ireland was very nuanced.She gets pregnant, and decides to rear the child with her husband of record. Both of them have trouble dealing with it, but it's the decision that involves the least damage. Other changes come along, like his inability to drink coffee, due to a stomach condition.Will they keep meeting, or will their married lives force that tradition to break? -------Scores-------Cinematography: 9/10 Fine, except for the occasional camera shake.Sound: 9/10 No problems.Acting: 10/10 The two principals are quite good.Screenplay: 9/10 Well told evolution of a long-lasting affair between two people who are more than friends.Strong resemblance to 'Same Time, Next Year' with Alan Alda and Ellen Burstyn, 1978.

This Slice of Life film seems to have been pieced together from the submissions of a 28-student class of fledgling Screen Writers. Each scene has the same framework, which identifies the requirements of the screen writing teacher. From that point on, each Student is given the freedom to flesh out their scene as they see fit in order to make each of them unique in some fashion. The Casting Director was lucky to cast a pair of actors who have the skill and experience necessary to fulfill each of the student screen writer's dialog and directions. However, the way the scenes are pieced together make the 82 Minute length seem like the film is dragging in some scenes.

After reading the reviews, I had to watch it again to understand what someone said happened in the movie that I didn't see, but found myself continuing to watch past that point. The first time I watched this movie, I thought it to be a modern tragedy, almost Shakespearean by bringing together bad timing, circumstance and what could've been. As I watched it again I drew more to the emotion that the characters and storyline is trying to draw out of the audience. If you lack emotional depth, experience, or having ever truly fallen in love, I think you watch this movie and brand it as a cheater movie justified. I think it goes beyond that. The woman having bloomed much later in life was, for all intensive purposes, lacking in self-esteem and unsure of herself. Which was brilliantly communicated by the director and screen writer. She never knew what she wanted, or what she deserved. She only knew to fit into her roles outside of her hotel room encounters. She couldn't bring to bear the question of what was OK for her to have in her life until it was tragically too late.The man was vulnerable, to a point. And like all men, didn't know whether to admit frailty in the obvious presence of a blossoming love with the massive risk of being unrequited and therefore exposing himself to the dangers of not having that thick male skin.Director - I think that the tempo was good, even watching it the second time, it wasn't predictable and didn't force me to want to fast forward. It captured the awkwardness of getting acquainted, brought us to a place where they dropped their guard and even a period of adolescent energy where the characters connected.Chris and Marin connected in this movie in a way that really made the movie. Periods of just conversation communicated something genuine while keeping true to character. It was almost akin to watching someone's reality.There were so many times in this movie that you just wanted to tell them what to do, and as each tragic bit of circumstance came to fruition you were emotionally disappointed. That's the point of any movie, to get the audience to relate some how and ask questions and get emotional. And this movie accomplished that for me.