Just watched this on Netflix and was blown away by it. Superbly directed and constructed account of a truly wonderful love story with a heart-breaking ending.These two guys were destined to share their lives. It was obvious from all the comments from friends and one of the families that these guys were soul mates. Both were fine handsome young men who lived their lives to the full and enjoyed similar interests.You cannot fail to be moved by this beautiful account of their individual upbringing by their loving families. Sadly one of the guy's parents wasn't supportive of their son's sexuality - and despite that, he still loved them dearly. The other guy was supported wholeheartedly by his family.This story has a very tragic ending - in more ways than one. This is one of the most beautiful factual love stories that I've ever seen. The story will live with you forever. You really should check this one out.

For a while, I felt interested but a bit removed. Certainly the story is tragic, but there are so many tragic tales in the world. Certainly any homophobia is horrific, but when there are still gay men being lynched, this story seemed not nearly as dramatic and shocking as others. And its style is basic – talking head interviews with friends and family, home videos, photographs. I thought (in my smug liberal way) that its good for the country to see a film showing how normal, likable and in love two young men could be. But this wasn't news to me. It felt rudimentary, aimed at those who had never known a gay couple and realized 'hey, they're just people'. But then something strange happened. In the film's last half hour it built into an emotional tidal wave. I didn't realize I was hit until I suddenly started to cry. These two men were so deeply, sweetly in love, and Shane Crone, rather than simply crawl into a shell after the untimely death of the love of his life, and after being barred from the funeral by the homophobic family, and dealt many other emotional (and legal) cuts and bruises only because he and his life partner were gay, managed to rally himself, and make a you tube video that has reached millions with an impossible to argue with plea for gay marriage. That he could take this devastating loss, add mistreatment, and instead of giving up on life do something important and life affirming was profoundly affecting. Suddenly the whole film seemed to have more weight. I wept through the very moving responses his video (the one that got me is a self proclaimed life-long redneck, vowing to never oppose gay lovers again). Even the end credits full of thousands of names of those who cared enough to contribute to the Kickstarter campaign for the film moved me with joy for the resilience of human beings, the fact that things are getting better, and that love is still the most powerful thing in the human experience, both in personal and political terms.

Yes, this is a sad story. But it isn't that well done. It's just a series of interviews and video selfies. Part A: The lead up. Part B: The love story. Part C: Loss and those dreary, horrible Hoosiers. Nothing new. Nothing extraordinary. Nothing learnt.I felt very uncomfortable in one respect. These boys sure enjoyed filming themselves to a point where they seemed like exhibitionists. I felt like a voyeur and that they wanted me to be a voyeur. One other reviewer likened this to MTV's "Real World". I agree in the sense that this screams "LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT ME!" This documentary felt like a set-up: Let's get back at the nasty in-laws. They were nasty. They do deserve being told and having the world told what absolute turds they were. But this shouldn't have been the story/documentary in and of itself. It felt like an extended story within a documentary. It could have been told just as effectively and thoroughly in ten minutes. The filmmakers could have incorporated this into a documentary about the need for marriage equality or something.Did I get upset? Yes, but any lesbian or gay man over 15 wouldn't be surprised by any of it and most have experienced worse first- or second-hand. It just isn't compelling enough to be the subject of an entire documentary.Am I glad I saw it? I guess. If it interests you, you probably should watch it. Understand that it does not warrant an average rating of 8.0, which it has in May 2014. One can't watch this and think it's a great documentary after watching any of a number of quality AIDS or PBS documentaries. Trust me, I'm not a tough grader. I just checked my ratings: Out of 183 documentaries seen during my 14 years with an IMDb.com account, I've given 67 a "10". 'Bridegroom' just isn't that good.

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.