Before I Do takes us to the beautiful Berkshires in Western Massachusetts. There, writer/director Gary Jaffe introduces us to the world of John Michael (Cole Dolman) as he celebrates his bachelor weekend on the eve of his wedding to his fiancé David. His ex-boyfriend and best man, Alex (Michael Hsu Rosen), just out of a long-term relationship, is hosting the weekend at his wooden lakeside retreat, alongside best friends Kit (Nico Greetham), Luis (Robin de Jesus) and Simon (Jared Reinfeldt). The very handsome Kit is John Michael´s oldest friend from childhood, and newly out as bisexual. Everyone is rather easy on the eye, full of testosterone, and boys being boys, sex and innuendo are never far off the agenda. This is mostly in the spirit of a fun bachelor weekend, but matters become more serious and consequential when John Michael and Alex realize they still have romantic feelings for each other. The isolated cabin then becomes a hotbed of drama. How is the weekend going to pan out?

Before I Do is a romantic drama in the vein of the Hallmark channel and will appeal to lovers of that ilk. The characters and script hold no particular surprises. However, that said, we are viewing a bachelor weekend, so I guess an element of literal humor, shallowness and simplicity is to be expected. I was hoping for more depth with the script – this might have been achieved if we’d been introduced to the character of John Michael’s fiancé, a trick that was missed. The film does successfully explore different sides of queer romantic relationships – love, sex, commitment and so on. The cast are diverse and do the best they can with their lines. There’s definitely more that could have been said and done, but overall it’s decent viewing.