The Roommate Contract: Rom-Com Flirting with Love and Homelessness in NYC

Lydia Muir and Eyek Ntekim’s series The Roommate Contract, out on YouTube, partakes in the recent and promising uptick in rom-coms following two people who decide to stop after their first date—for reasons that have nothing to do with unpleasantness and at least something to do with the bad housing market in NYC.

Unable to find work or a stable living situation, 20-something Aiysha (Korina Deming) has finally overstayed her welcome on her best friend’s (Regan Hicks, who has also composed theme song Hearts In My Eyes ) couch. When a sublet room unexpectedly turns up, Aiysha must choose between the easy chemistry with her cute date or having a decent place to live.

Minus its technical missteps, the sweet-cute first episode springs and bounces its way through the 10-minute runtime, thanks in large part to Deming, who channels part happy-go-lucky, part latest-depressed-generation-victimised-by-the-economy energy into the nearly homeless Aiysha. Opposite her, Daniel Kim plays Nathan, a likeable fellow with an equally likeable apartment. What’s a girl to do but sign the contract and hope for the best?

Kim and Deming make that contract, with very sensible terms that are very likely to spark a lot of yearning (like no romance and no kissing), feel very certainly doomed to fail. This writer certainly hopes it will fail in the direction of The Flatshare.

Watch The Roommate Contract Web Series