This Movie is Rated R – For Language, Some Sexual Content and Brief Drug Use
Zach (Trevor Wright) is a young man that feels trapped in his life. He still lives in San Pedro, California, the city he grew up in. If you’ve ever been there, you know it’s not exactly the prettiest town. It’s a major seaport and the shipping stuff pretty much takes over the town; it’s very industrial feeling.
His mother died and his father injured himself on the job. He is pretty much always on pain meds and is unable to do much of anything. Zach is currently living with his older sister, Jeanne (Tina Holmes), and her five-year old son, Cody (Jackson Wurth). I guess you could say she is raising Cody on her own. Although, it seems more like Zach that is doing the majority of the “raising”. Jeanne expects Zach to be available to watch Cody at a moment’s notice and is very put out if he isn’t. Her main focus is partying and spending time with her loser of a boyfriend.
Zach is an artist and was hoping to attend Cal Arts after high school. Instead he has ended up staying in San Pedro, working at a diner and spending most of his free time taking care of his nephew. He still surfs whenever he can squeeze it in and now does “street art”. Which consists of creating art using spray paint on various places around the city (sides of buildings, etc). We aren’t talking typical graffiti; he does scenic stuff (cityscapes, etc).
Zach’s best friend, Gabe (Ross Thomas), is from a wealthy family. They have a large, beautiful home right on the beach; however, it seems that they are hardly ever there anymore. Gabe has gone away to college, but whenever he comes home for a visit, he always hooks up with Zach. They like to spend their time together surfing, skateboarding and partying (although it seems that Gabe is the real partier). They have been best friends since they were about eight years old.
Tori (Katie Walder) is Zach’s on again, off again girlfriend. You could call her Zach’s other best friend. They are extremely close, but the whole boyfriend/girlfriend thing just doesn’t seem to work out very well for them. Zach seems to continually push her away, then misses being around her and wants to get back together. She’s definitely getting mixed signals from him.
One day, Zach, heads over to Gabe’s family’s home to go surfing (he has his board stored there). It turns out Gabe’s older brother, Shaun (Brad Rowe), is staying there for awhile. He has recently split up with his boyfriend and is staying there until his new place is available. Zach and Shaun end up going surfing together. Then hanging out afterward and getting reacquainted with each other. There seems to be a bit of a spark between them and at one point Shaun very sweetly and gently kisses Zach. Things don’t go any further than that. They just continue to talk, eventually ending up falling asleep together, on the chaise lounge chair they are sharing.
When Zach wakes up in the morning, he remembers about the kisses and is a bit freaked out. He takes off and finds a quiet place to think. Which for him is surfing and hanging out on the beach. At home he is still trying to work through how he feels, when he is confronted by Jeanne. She says she’s heard he’s been hanging out with Shaun. She doesn’t think it’s a good idea, because Shaun is gay and she doesn’t want Cody being around that.
Zach is so confused. He has never considered being with a guy before, however, his relationship with a girl didn’t go well. He really enjoys being around Shaun and seems to be feeling an attraction to him. However, he is also afraid of what his friends would think, especially Gabe. Especially, since he’s already heard what his sister thinks of Shaun and it’s certainly not positive.
This is a terrific movie. The story is well written and the actors are great. Trevor and Brad are especially fantastic together. Trevor really brings so much heart to the character of Zach. You really feel for him and want him to get what he wants in life. Oh, and the kid that plays Cody is absolutely adorable.
Some of my favorite quotes:
Cody – “And you’re my Daddy.”
Zach – “No Cody, I’m your uncle. Your mommy is my sister. That makes me your uncle. Roy’s your daddy.
Cody – “Nope. You’re my daddy. You’re my daddy. You’re my daddy. You’re my daddy. You’re my daddy.”
Shaun – “Oh, I remember you. You were 13 and you had crimped hair, but I remember ya. I bought you guy’s wine coolers. I think you puked on my parent’s deck.”
Zach – “What are you working on?”
Shaun – “A book.”
Zach – “Oh, what, it’s been like, uh, three years since the last one right? Is it really long or something.”
Shaun – “F*ck off.”
Zach – “You sure didn’t leave much out of the last one.”
Cody – “Are we still in California.”
Zach – “Yeah, buddy.”
Shaun – “You’re so beautiful.”
Zach – “Shut up.”
Shaun – “Hey, learn to take a compliment.”
Zach – “Thanks.”
Gabe – “You ok? You look a bit freaked out.”
Jan
Following is additional information about the show that contains spoilers. If you don’t want to be spoiled don’t read any further.
I love the part when Zach decides he wants to be with Shaun. You can tell he is so anxious to get to Shaun’s place and let him know. As soon as Shaun opens the door, Zach lunges at him and starts kissing him passionately. It’s a fabulous scene and you can really feel the heat from the guys.
I really, really don’t like Zach’s sister. She is just so selfish and hypocritical. As far as she’s concerned it’s ok for her to do anything she wants, without giving any thought to her son. However, if Zach isn’t immediately available to watch Cody, whenever she wants him to, she gets all pissed off.
I was so happy that Zach is finally getting to have a life of his own. His application to Cal Arts has been accepted. He and Cody have moved in with Shaun (since Jeanne took off with her boyfriend and he doesn’t like kids). The three of them have become a very happy family.
Ok, I need to b*tch a bit about the way movie’s are rated in the United States. So this movie was rated R for language, some sexual content and brief drug use. What irritates me is that there is hardly any swearing, the drug use is very brief and the sexual content is extremely tame. There is no nudity; the sexual content consists of two guys rolling around on a bed kissing. Yeah, they are supposed to be naked, but you certainly wouldn’t know it, since it’s all shown from the waist up. It seems like the only reason this got an R was because it was “gay sex”. I’ve seen much steamier hetero sex scenes on TV and they only get a TV-14. By the way the UK rating for this movie is 15; which is why I have concluded the US rating system sucks.
Don’t even get me started on the whole, why do incredibly violent movies get PG-13 in the US.
