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Warning: May contain spoilers. You've been warned.
To answer your question, yes this is a 'gay movie' and before you go judging it or me, give this review a read or watch the actually movie. I have a link to it on YouTube at the bottom of the review.
To be honest, this is one of my favorite movies of all time. It's not on my top ten, but if I would put together a top fifteen or top twenty, it would most certainly been on there. It is actually listed in the 'Honorable Mentions' part of my Top Ten Movies video.
Anyway, yes this is a gay movie, but that's not the thing to be focusing on. Gay or straight, this is a great movie, and gay or straight, anyone can enjoy it.
The story revolves around a guy who's living in the slums of Los Angeles with his lazy, self-centered sister, Jeanne, and her 5 year old son, Cody. The guy, Zach, has given up so much to help his family out and starts to form a strong friendship with his best friend's older brother, Shaun. Shaun and his brother, Gabe, live an easy life that Zach has never been able to enjoy. Zach also has to deal with working two jobs, help take care of Cody and his dad, and try to keep his rocky relationship with Tori afloat.
What I love about this movie is that it isn't solely about the gay stuff, it's also about family. Family is probably the most important aspect of this film. Trevor Wright plays Zach and Brad Pitt's twin Brad Rowe plays Shaun and they both give amazing performances. In fact, on top of the film having eleven award wins, Trevor received two for his performance.
Many people would identify this movie as the gay surfing movie but in reality there's probably 3 minutes total of surfing. It just serves as a buffer between scenes. But what's also interesting to think about is that these surfers are gay. You don't think of surfers as gay, you think of them as manly dudes who hang loose and hook up with chicks and hang out at the beach. Huh, it's amazing to think that anyone can be gay... not just the flamboyant ones (<-that's sarcasm)!
Shelter also dabbles into the subject of gay parenting in a way. Highlight the text between the parentheses to read more. There will be spoilers. [[Jeanne leaves with her boyfriend leaving Cody to live with Zach and Shaun. The movie has a little epilogue type clip that shows the three of them on the beach having fun several months later.]]
The music in the movie is great. Shane Mack wrote and performed many of the main songs for the movie and they make some scenes just so amazing.
My only complaint about this movie is that it was too short for me. And I think that would be the complaint with anyone. You just can't get enough of this film. You're watching it and it ends and you just want more, you want to know what will happen next! If this movie weren't an indie movie and had a larger budget, I'm sure they would've gone much farther and it would be more popular that it is.
For those of you who haven't seen the film and are concerned that maybe this is too gay for me, I'll let you know what to look out for. You can be the judge. One character smokes weed briefly. There's some swearing (fuck, pussy, fag, shit, etc.). There is no nudity, but there is a brief scene where sex between two men is implied (only some rolling around and kissing is shown). I should also mention that the two lead actors are both straight. If that makes you feel any better.
But I highly recommend that you watch the movie. Seriously. I'll even give you a link to it so it's free and it's on YouTube. No one even has to know you saw it. I just think it is an important film that everybody needs to see because it will help move equality along in my opinion.
Also, the poster I have at the top of this review is not the actual poster for the film. It is actually a milder one that I made. Looks real dunit? :) If you would like to see the real poster click here.
To watch the movie on YouTube, click the following links (each video is about 15 minutes long):
Watch the trailer:
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