Under One Roof [DVD] [2003] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]

I began watching this movie somewhat conscious of the fact that this was not a big production. As is the case with many low budget gay films it makes up for in story what it lacks in production value. About 10 minutes into the movie I found myself completely involved in the story and characters.

Jay, a closeted young man, still lives with his mother and grandmother in San Francisco. While there are others who he is out to (his female best friend who his mother is desperately trying to set him up with, and his very out gay best friend who keeps trying to set him up with anything that moves)he keeps his sexuality a secret from his mother who he feels would not approve. That is until the day his mother rents their basement apartment to Robert, an adorable gay guy, and things start to immediately heat up.

Should he risk losing his mother's approval on what could be true love...or risk losing the man of his dreams?

And I loved it.

Despite its technical flaws, I found myself wrapped up in the story pretty quickly, and by the time the end came along, I was grinning from ear to ear. "Under One Roof" may never win any production awards, but the story is solid and there are many great moments during the movie that had me laughing out loud.

As I said earlier, don't look for A-list production quality. It's more like a film class project meets "The Real World" meets public access television meets soft core porn. Let me clarify that I don't say 'porn' because of the full-frontal nudity or the sex scenes -- they are almost always appropriate to the story in context (and the guys are cute!). Plus, I've seen MUCH more explict hetero sex scenes on network TV. I said 'porn' because that's what the acting and music quality reminded me of several times throughout the film.

Despite the weak acting overall, however, there were some very real moments which struck a chord with me. When they happen they really stand out, at least to me.

I gave it four stars and higly recommend it. If you overlook the technical shortcomings and approach it with an open mind, you'll find a touching little love story with quite a few laughs. I'll keep this one in my collection.

Daniel, the perfect Asian son, lives with his widowed mom and his grandmother in San Francisco, as filial Asian boys tend to be expected to. Also in the vein of the perfect son, he can't come out to his family, and his mom relentlessly keeps trying to set him up with women.

The family rents out the downstairs room, however, and a cute boarder (Robert) shows up to take the place. Sure enough, the two slowly but surely get together....

This movie is not totally about Daniel and Robert's budding romance. Well, it is, but there's more to it than that. The magic of the movie is the family's reaction, Daniel's newfound priorities, and how Robert's unassuming yet formidable role in each. It's the standard stuff the coming-out flicks are made of, but hey, it always manages to tug at the heartstrings, right? We've all been there before, or know someone who has.... or at least we all know how difficult it is to stand up against unreasonable expectations.

So yeah, everything about this DVD just screamed "so-so"... but it's still worth a viewing. Oh, and because this IS a DVD, after all... don't forget to take advantage of the special features, including the Director's Commentary cut. Some interesting tidbits in there.