A BRAVE NEW WORLD OF LOVE AND SEX.

Byline: Stephen Holden The New York Times

You don't have to believe that the upscale London bohemians who frolic through Rose Troche's comedy ``Bedrooms and Hallways'' actually exist to marvel at their easygoing sexual fluidity.

The film, which aspires toward the playful sophistication of a Noel Coward romp (but without the sharp class distinctions and with a lot more sex), imagines a brave new world in which the distinctions between gay and straight have begun to dissolve. In this semi-utopian urban environment, where characters live in improbably spacious, well-decorated apartments, those who are so inclined can experiment sexually without feeling the need to declare a final, fixed orientation.

What triggers this giddy comedy of erotic manners is the arrival of Leo (Kevin McKidd), a love-starved 30-year-old gay artisan in an ostensibly heterosexual men's consciousness-raising group.

At a ritual during which something called ``the honesty stone'' is passed around and the members are encouraged to bare their most intimate secrets, Leo confesses his attraction to his fellow group member Brendan (James Purefoy). Although Brendan is momentarily nonplused, his curiosity quickly triumphs over his initial embarrassment. Suddenly Leo, who has been pining for a lover, finds himself sleeping with the man of his dreams.

In the movie's cleverest sequences, before their relationship has been consummated, Brendan invades those dreams, sometimes in period costume from Jane Austen. (It depends on what book Leo has been reading that night.)

``Bedrooms and Hallways'' would end right here were it not for Brendan's long-term relationship with Sally (Jennifer Ehle), who works with him in a restaurant-bakery. When she visits the house Leo shares with Darren (Tom Hollander), a flouncy gay flibbertigibbet, Leo is shocked to discover that the woman with whom Brendan is breaking up is his very own high school sweetheart. Leo can't bring himself to tell Sally that he is sleeping with the man who is leaving her, although the truth eventually comes out. At the same time, he and Sally discover that they still have ``chemistry'' and begin taking a high school flirtation that was never consummated to the next step.

Having set several plots in motion, the movie does a fairly good job of keeping them in the air. One subplot involves Darren's relationship with a dominant real estate agent who has sex with him in his clients' empty houses but who, to Darren's frustration, refuses to be seen in public with him. Lesser subplots involve the relationships and lives of the other men's group members.

The movie takes easy potshots at a ``wild men's gathering'' in some very tame woods where the participants avidly beat on drums but prove so inept at foraging for their dinner that their leader has to put in an emergency phone call for Chinese takeout. The most superficially macho group member (who also discovers his gay inner child) becomes hysterical when caught in some brambles.

But having begun to explore the ins and outs of bisexuality, ``Bedrooms and Hallways'' loses its nerve and turns into a shallow sitcom in which everyone is abruptly and mechanically paired off. The potentially incendiary conflicts that the movie had begun to explore are inexplicably dropped. The letdown is so steep it is almost as though the film ran out of time and money before it could be completed, and a frantic last-minute wrap-up was improvised to save the day.

THE FACTS

The film: ``Bedrooms and Hallways'' (not rated; sexual and adult situations).

The stars: Kevin McKidd, Hugo Weaving, Jennifer Ehle, Simon Callow.

Behind the scenes: Directed by Rose Troche. Screenplay by Robert Farrar. Produced by Ceci Dempsey and Dorothy Berwin. Released by First Run Features.

Running time: One hour, 36 minutes.

Playing: Sunset 5, West Hollywood.

Our rating: Two stars.