One of my all time favorites.

Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

A bona fide tearjerker! I am oblivious of Shane's youtube videos, which kickstarts this feature- length picture, but the film needs to be seen by literally everyone, whether for or against the same sex equity, it is deeply heartfelt and perspicaciously educational, I think whoever as long as hold a small fraction of mercy in their hearts, regardless of their religious convictions, after watching this film, it will be a game-changer for the prejudiced and a touchstone for a mightier love above social class, creed, race, color and gender. The documentary is about Shane and Tom, a gay couple being together for 6 years until Tom died of falling from a rooftop accidentally in 2011 (aged 29), the interviewers (Shane, his families and their friends) chart the story of their lives from Shane's childhood, his bullied school days and his struggling self-identification of being a gay man while Tom attended a first-rate high school albeit his blue-collar family background, and turned out to be an all-American boy, handsome, macho, outgoing, a role model excels both in sports and academy. After fate let them meet in L.A., their relationship epitomizes the most desiring lover-cum-soulmate perfection one could ever dream of, which causes the ensuing tragedy far more harrowing to bear. A familiar juncture for almost every gay person, the coming-out process, particularly to Tom's parochial family, it was an incubus, which sheerly contrasts with the understandable reaction from Shane's family, however, it is all evinced secondhand by Shane and their friends, since Tom's family adopted the silent treatment to the invitation of the production team to be part of the film, surely we will never know the story from the other side, which is a minor glitch in this otherwise viscerally affecting picture. Nevertheless, a more contingent fact is how the young soul's passing provoked much more indignation when Tom's family flagrantly shut down Shane out of the funeral and expunged their entire life together as if it never happened, it is an atrocious transgression towards our very basic canon as human beings, it is love unites us, differentiates us and sublimates us from other creatures on earth, and propels our society to move on to a better world, so even though BRIDEGROOM (which is Tom's family name, what a pertinent one!) is hardly a ground-breaking piece of art work (SMS interaction, video footages, travel photography is all it has to render the narrative aside common interviews with apt editing), it is a film should not be missed and I do hope the cost of a young life can be at least in some level compensated by awakening more conservative minds to evaluate the world with a more humane mind and encouraging more individuals to embrace their true color. Also, best wishes to Shane, you are lucky enough to experience true love and don't lose hope, live long and prosper!

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 was made aware of the memorial Shane made for Tom on YouTube. It was beautiful. Love is beautiful. It was noted that there was a forthcoming documentary which I viewed on OWN. There is love, humor, togetherness; a six year period of lives lived well. I appreciated the inclusion of both Tom and Shane's early lives of being gay in small town America. There was nothing sexually in your face about their relationship shown in the doc; they were careful about any PDA when together. While watching.. If I ever questioned equal marriage this drove home that marriage is a non sexual legal gift for the protection of each spouse. This could be considered a 43 year later representation of the film Love Story without the overplayed drama. Had Prop 8 been reversed and DOMA overturned just a year earlier and the two married, Shane would not have endured the vindictive cruelty of Tom's family (fully realizing they too were going thru sincere emotional pain too). If people are in long term committed relationships and live in parts of the country where equal marriage is not allowed; it would be advisable to have wills in place to control as much as you possibly can by law in the event a tragedy would happen to you or your significant other. Hopefully, documentaries like this will continue to elicit peoples hearts into making equal marriage available countrywide. There will always be people that disagree with same sex relationships, but if you have a heart you cannot deny that committed couples all deserve the dignity of the protections marriage affords.