I love this movie so much

Truly Dreadful Film

Dreadfully Boring

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

You may have watched several good, impressive gay films before. But you might feel they are overly dramatic and far away from your life. I promise you Bridegroom is the most special and touching gay movie I have seen. Actually, it is a documentary. The real story was found by the director on Youtube in 2012 (It Could Happen To You). Bridegroom, the love story of Shane and Tom is also a precious memory for Shane.In the film, the hero, Shane Crone pays tribute to his partner Tom who died in an accident in 2011. All "actors and actresses" are themselves including Shane and Tom's family and friends. It's a documentary about Shane and Tom's childhoods, their acquaintance and their life. The film is tearful and heartbreaking because it does not have a happy ending. Tom dies young at only 29 years old.More heartbreaking is that Tom's family refuses to accept Shane. As Tom's lover, he cannot attend Tom's funeral. Although Shane's family and friends accept and support him, his sadness cannot be described in words. His world crashes with Tom's leaving.Shane and Tom, like other young people, are cheerful and optimistic. I also feel they are lucky, because they can meet their soul mate and true love in the big world. Shane is brave, and he can tell the world his story and about the tragedy.The world should be diverse and colorful, like the gay symbol - the rainbow flag. This small film may influence the audience and make a meaningful impact on society.

As the world goes from some sort of malice toward homosexuals to tolerance, movies like this remind you of how silly it is people can actively hate a group of people who do them no harm. But, thankfully, as much as there is an underlying theme about equality within the film, the love between Tom and Shane is what is the most showcased. Thus making a film which could rival some of your favorite romantic movies. Characters & StoryThis documentary features two men. One being Shane, and the other Tom. Their love story plays out like many love stories in which this extrovert meets this quiet person and through the extrovert the quiet counterpart blossoms. And the film decides, rather than to start when Tom and Shane first date, they instead make it so you build up to that moment by getting to know the two men before the love came about. With that, the film makes it so you are almost like an acquaintance of the two boys, who you may have seen around school, and rather than them being someone you just randomly look up on Facebook, instead you get one half of the relationship, and all their friends, telling you what happened from beginning to end.PraiseTruly, for a film a little over an hour to be so touching is quite amazing. As I've said in other reviews, so many films do so much in order to make an on-screen relationship seem authentic, but when you see Tom and Shane, and think about all that lead up to their relationship, it truly does create a mental precedent, as their friends say in the movie. Then, what makes this film all the better is the fact this romance was reality. Thankfully, both Tom and Shane loved using their camera to take picture and create videos, and when you combine those two with the interview segments, you get a film which squashes any Nicholas Sparks movie adaption, and rivals any other depiction of love you can think of. But, perhaps the nicest thing is the way we are introduced to Tom and Shane. We get to see two separate entities grow into finding each other like the proverbial missing puzzle piece. And though there isn't much affection shown, in terms of kissing or something like that, just their interactions and pictures show the type of romance I'm sure many dream of. And though really all we are as viewers are people viewing into the window of Shane and Tom's life, the amount of detail really makes you feel almost like an acquaintance by the end of the film.Criticism Honestly, there isn't much to critique the film on since it is fairly to the point and only a little over an hour. I mean, to nitpick, I could say I wasn't fond of most of the music used, but that is mostly because there is a lot of original music which I wasn't feeling, country songs, and songs which may have fit the moment, but I think were unnecessary overall. However, and maybe this is just my feelings, I think it was unnecessary for the movie to have one of the interviewees, who seems so foreign in comparison to Shane's or Tom's family members and friends. And the reason I say he seems foreign, is because it seems his main purpose is to associate Tom and Shane's story with the push for marriage equality and gay rights. And really, the film itself, on its own, speaks on why marriage equality matters as well as speak on the issues a gay person can have in this world, especially if they grow up in an area of intolerance. So his participation almost seems more like an invasive sponsor than someone contributing something of worth.Overall: Rental/ VODPerhaps in the future, when people take note of how far things have come, films like this one will be used to show part of the devastation which came simply from unfound hatred. And while we are told neither Tom nor Shane were physically bullied, you do see through Shane how much mental torture can come from not only not accepting yourself, but not having those who you want to be close accept you. Making this, to me, worth renting. For while it is just one man's story, like so many before, and surely after, it is a story which matters and truly reminds you despite the many differences there are between people, be it race, sexuality, likes/dislikes and etc., there are a few basic things we all search for and are a part of what gives us hope, and reason, to live possibly into our 80s, 90s, and 100s, and that is having someone who accepts all of you and finds it complimentary to their being.

I hate to disagree with most of the other reviews, but I didn't care for this film. The couple the film focuses on seems very likable. The story is very sad. It goes nowhere.Shane grows up in a rural town where he is subjected to bullying - sad, but certainly nothing unusual. He meets a great, handsome guy who pulls him out of his shell. They fall in love, are rapturously happy, and travel the world together. We know all about their great loving relationship, because we're told all about it by Shane and many other people. Tragically, Tom has a terrible accident. The nurses at the hospital tell Shane they can't allow him in to see Tom because he's "not family" - but they let him in anyway. Tom dies from his injuries.Tom's funeral is hidden from Shane because Tom's intensely bigoted family doesn't accept gays, and blames Shane for making Tom gay, and doesn't want him at the funeral. Very sad, and ugly, but certainly not unheard of.To me, this film is like an extended episode of The Real World, MTV's old reality TV show. Lots and lots of interview cuts of friends and family sitting and talking about how they felt about this couple, and how they felt about each other. The camera lingers on countless shots (these guys sure loved cameras) of their handsome faces, and the fun places they visited before the tragic accident.I just kept waiting for it to get going - would some kind of legal action be taken as a result of Shane being turned away (initially) at the hospital? Would Tom's bigoted parents have a change of heart and embrace Shane, and finally accept their son's sexuality? Where was the story? What made this couple's sad experience film worthy? I kept waiting for some kind of transformation. None came. Sorry to sound cold, but Bridegroom plays like a long vanity project.

I had followed Mr. Crone's story on YouTube so I was prepared with a package of tissues when I went to the premiere. What I was not prepared for was the amazing amount of humor captured in the first half of the film. It completely disarmed my tension, and made the remarkable connection between these two men that much sweeter. The story of what happens to this couple is,for me, is as moving as the very special love they shared - their connection, their love of life, their strength, and the against-so-many-odds fact that they found each other, if only for a short while. This film is a gift.(I would have rated it 10 but for two edits that were so jarring I was taken out of the experience momentarily during the viewing - both came off like mid-sentence interruptions to the speaker being cut-away from)