*******Contains very slight spoiler about ending******** I had read a lot of hype about hits movie, and since I consider myself a connoisseur of gay movies, I knew I had to check it out. I must admit, while I did enjoy it, I was a bit disappointed. I expected it to be 'the' gay film of the year, but sadly, it was not. For a low budget film, it was above average. It definitely wasn't as bad as that god awful 'Tan Lines', I will give it that. I personally felt that while the characters themselves were pretty well rounded and relate-able, I felt the relationship between Zach and Shaun could have been fleshed out MUCH more. You don't get to learn to much about their history, though if you pay attention, you can tell it's implied that they both used to have feelings for each other, whether or not they were aware of the feelings. The dialog could have been amped up A LOT more, some of it seemed very stiff and/or just simply a filler. There were many good things about this film however, Zach and Shaun of course were amazing eye candy, which never hurts. I also really loved the relationship between Zach and his little nephew Cody, it really tugs at those heartstrings. One other thing I found really great was that the ending was happy. The complete opposite of Brokeback! This is one of the few gay movies where the two are allowed to be happy and walk off into the sunset together. If you want to see another movie where they are allowed that happy ending, but want a more fleshed out story/characters then I highly recommend 'Maurice.' It is my favorite films of all time, gay or otherwise. But all this being said, I would recommend watching 'Shelter' if you want a feel good movie that doesn't require much thinking and has nice surfer boys to ogle!
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