DVD Review - Three in a Bed

Half-way into the movie, the image of three people in a bed appears. We learn that the three are an older brother and his two younger sisters. Brothers and sisters sharing a bed aren't uncommon. It's perhaps a little bit more uncommon between siblings in their mid to upper twenties. Yet, when these three adult brother and sisters jump into bed together, it's not an outright issue. It's not a problem. It's not a cause for concern. It's normal. If it's so not a source of conflict, one wonders why it's this movie's title. It's not explored as a thing. It's not even discussed. It's simply symbolic of how close the siblings are and how protective the older brother is.

Brennan Reece stars as Nate, the curly-haired, hipster-looking, older brother in question. He has a steady job at a shop in Manchester. He's also an aspiring musician, a singer-songwriter. Like with many, he just has his vocals and his acoustic guitar, but he's not like Glen Hansard's character in Once (2007) or Keira Knightley's character in Begin Again (2014). You'd barely know he was into music at all. Yet, when Nate does perform he could be in line with some of England's most recent and best, young singer-songwriters like Jake Bugg, Ed Sheeran or Marcus Mumford.

Darren Bransford plays Jonny, a neighbor who lives in the flat below Nate. It's not clear what Jonny does. He might say what his job is, but he's never shown at work. The first image of Jonny is the scruffy and lanky lad in nothing but his grey underpants, and he begins his obvious seduction by standing in such open body language and rubbing the un-erect but still massive bulge within his tight briefs.

Nate's initial conversation with Jonny reveals how open Jonny is with his homosexuality, while how reticent or how in-the-closet Nate is. Even after sharing his bed with Jonny, Nate can't admit to being gay, especially not to his sisters who come to share his bed after their living situations fall away.

At first, Nate lives alone in his flat. Jay, played by Verity-May Henry, is his eldest sister. She lives with her boyfriend Jase but finds out that he's had an affair, so she moves out and has nowhere to go but to Nate's place. Sammy, played by Coby Hamilton, is his youngest sister. All we know about her is that she's loud and has no problem with being nasty or rude to people. She's also pregnant with a married man's baby. She feels the need to stay with her brother until her baby is born.

Directed and co-written by Lloyd Eyre-Morgan, this movie is lighter and fluffier than his previous films. There's not a lot of drama or plot. With not a lot of money, he is able to pull off interesting scenes like a fast-motion shot inside a hospital waiting room, but everything else is pretty straight-forward. As with his previous films, the dialogue is sharp.

Not being from England, I'm not familiar with all English terminologies. Jay's cheating boyfriend Jase, played by Jody Latham (Shameless), gets a series of comedic moments where we see him beg to get back together with Jay. He says he wants to cuddle with Jay whom he calls his "sexy face." I had never heard that term used that way and it made me laugh. That, and Latham's delivery was pretty hilarious.

Latham isn't in the film as much. The movie is mostly about Nate being worried about his sister's reactions to his relationship with Jonny, Nate finding the courage to pursue his passion and his overall acceptance of who he is.

Three Stars out of Five.
Not Rated but for mature audiences.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 21 mins.
Available on DVD or VOD via TLA Video.