One For All

Communication is the key to any healthy relationship, but sadly a lot of relationships implode due to shifty behaviours and actions, and the writing is on the wall when our horndog lead jumps on the phone to his mistress the second that his partner leaves for the day.

A forgotten key and we're into the impossible situation of having to hide a naughty secret only for things to really escalate when not all is at it seems in the bedroom.

This film was a weird one for me to watch as I think a cheating guy as the central plot device is fairly dated in 2022. And yet, you had a massive opportunity to explore healthy open relationships but went with the blue balls punchline.

But that wasn't the tone the film was going for, it was a lighthearted romp and well delivered particularly in terms of the editing. Good performances just wished it had gone down a slightly different route, personally.

Story: 2.5/5
Technical: 3/5
Elements: 3/5
Overall: 2.5/5

Something this short does really well is making it a quite uncomfortable watch. Whether it's some of the dialogue, character reactions and interactions or just the situation that's happening it kind of works in bringing the cringe. Or maybe it's because of the nipple rubbing. Yeah...

Performances are good - especially from our promiscuous lead who does a lot of the heavy lifting moving from elusive, to sexy, to evasive, to panicky, to bewildered, to ultimately deflated. Early on there's a partial 4th wall break which I think you should have gone 100% on as a) it would have been funny and b) as it currently is, looks like an editing mistake. That aside, the general edit of some nice-looking footage is fairly consistent. I do think that once the secret girlfriend arrives they should have headed straight for the bedroom to move things along - sitting on the couch drinking wine didn't add much apart from allowing you to play with a bit of focus.

As Steelpototo mentioned above, the type of ending you went for is pretty 10 years ago and not much of a twist. That's not to say that it doesn't work as an ending - it's just fairly obvious. The question to ask is where else could you have gone with it?

I think you've got an interesting team with people who have skills, trust each other and who are prepared to do almost anything. This is a real bonus for you and if you can stay as a threesome you'll produce some great stuff for this comp in the future. :)

Some great performances from a team who clearly are having a lot of fun making naughty little short film - and you know what? I had fun too.

Like Steelpotato, I am a little dubious about focusing on a cheater as a protagonist, but the tone is so light and cheeky anyway that I think you juuuust get away with it. The reveal that the wife is also cheating (with the same person no less) helps this feel like a more level playing field.

My least favourite thing about the film would be the setting, we have had a lot of these modern white wall houses in films this year, so I'm mentioning it in every review for films guilty of it, in hopes that everyone will get out and explore next year hahaha.

The camera work is also clean, but I think a film like this could have had a lot more fun with some subjective filmmaking and more experimental cinematography. The shots work, but they don't pop. The aforementioned location probably doesn't help this.

A weird thing to say, and I hope this doesn't get me cancelled, but good on you guys for going all in on making a horny movie. Characters in this film undress, they show off their bodies, they look genuinely lustful for each other -- teams should only go as far as they're willing to go here, but it does add a bit of legitimacy that these characters seem like genuine sexual beings - I honestly don't know who on the cast are dating or married in real life because all 3 characters seemed legitimately into each other. Maybe I'm just a horndog myself.

While I don't want to out the above reviewers as also being a couple of horndogs who were hoping the ending explored the throuple's open relationship potential, I am shocked to see this mentioned as a complaint - I think EASILY the smartest move this film makes is the two women throwing the male lead out on his ass and having him sulk away - an ending in which the characters have a threesome (not that this was specifically what the other reviewers are wanting) feels very men-writing-women. I don't think this film is perfect, but ending it with a win for the gals and a loss for the man makes it 10x better than it would have been otherwise.

Challenge for next year: I think this is a fun team! The only things really holding you back were the low-ish stakes of this story, the basic camerawork and a few technical hiccups here and there - so practice this stuff and sharpen your craft!

As other reviews have said, my first thought to comment on was on how it was an uncomfortable watch, haha, but I feel like that is what you ideally want with an impossible situation film, right? The film was technically very well put together, solid camera work, lighting, editing and such. A few places where the audio clipped, but nothing too distracting.

I thought the storyline was good, and, although I can see how there were multiple options for the twist at the end like other reviewers mentioned, I'm inclined to agree with AJ. I feel like it would be hard to pick an ending that would please everyone, because I feel like if the guy got both the girls, that could feel a little... backward, too. It may not have happened in the film itself, but I feel like if we followed the story for a few more mins, this would be more likely to pass the Bechdel test by hearing them talk to each other about something other than him!

In any case, I think you executed what you went with well! It was enjoyable to watch, and kept me engaged throughout, wanting to know what would happen. Nice work team :)

I started watching this for the second time to write the review and immediately remembered it from the heats. I think I actually enjoyed it more the second time around and it's quite a polished film. The idea of the guy putting himself in the "impossible situation" so to speak I think works well.
Everything is well shot and I think the biggest thing that I noticed was that there were moments where the editing could've been tighter and maybe the performances a bit bigger to really nail home the gravity of certain moments. For example, the ending could've just been a hard cut to him standing outside of the house instead of slowly walking away. I think their interactions with each other in that scene come off just a little bit too casual as well.
I guess such things are often subjective but I think stuff like that could've given the film an extra bit of polish.