Who's in It: Brad Rowe, Trevor Wright, Tina Holmes, Jackson Wurth
The Basics: First, you're stuck in San Pedro in a dumpy house with your loser sister and her kid that she won't take care of. Then your girlfriend is kind of a drag. Then some surfer guy comes along and makes you gay. Then you're all happy being gay with the surfer guy and helping to raise the kid because your sister is still out partying. Then your sister says, "Wait, I may be a drunk, but you're gay. I'm taking this kid away." Life sucks like that sometimes.
What's the Deal? What makes this particular drama about gays better than most of the other ones out there on the queer-film-festival/straight-to-DVD circuit is that it's not about a guy in New York or Los Angeles enduring the wacky dating scene and pining for Prince Gay Charming. It's about down-market people and their run-of-the-mill lives with some surfing and skateboarding thrown in. That alone pretty much puts it on the top of the heap. So what if it's not the most incredible movie you've ever seen?
Where You've Seen Rowe Starring as a Gay Before: In the 1998 indie hit Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss playing Sean Hayes' object of desire. He's also about to be in a gay wedding comedy called, I think, For Better or Worse. So he's got that niche market all sewn up.
Where This Would Play Better: On TV. But again, that's not really a slam. It's just not incredibly cinematic in its scope.