supermaggie As noted by others: no gay film in the actual sense, rather a mixture of surf film, teen movie, growing up story, with a little family drama, a little working-class drama, some gay issues, but especially a film about two (or three) brothers. Therein lies the weakness of the film: it wants too much and gets lost. If it focused only on the brothers and the gay issue, it would surely have been more successful. I don't think the film is a great achievement, but mainly due to the two outstanding characters of Fergus (Xavier Samuel) and the / his grandfather (Barry Otto) it is pleasant and entertaining enough and at the end -with the talk of the twins on the beach about the third brother- it comes full circle. But still: more focus on Fergus and his relationships with family and friends instead of Jesse and his surfing and the beach parties etc. would have certainly worked better and would have been better received by the audience targeted by marketing.

melwyn This was on local telly last night, and as I feel a little "patriotic obligation" with Aussie films, I gave it a go.Within ten minutes I had put nearly every character neatly back in the "central casting" pigeonhole they'd been taken from and was mentally writing the rest of the movie in dot points. In the end, the trendy, tokenistic gay element was the only thing I missed.As far as the characterisations and plot are concerned, there is nothing original in this film. That can be overlooked if it is executed well, but it wasn't. Fairly pedestrian, soapie-level stuff for the most part, with wall-to-wall white Aussies acting out a story seemingly cobbled together from old episodes of "Home and Away".Cast-wise, the youngsters weren't too bad, in fact certainly promising as far as their ability to express a range of emotions. By contrast, Shane Jacobson proved beyond doubt that he is a rubbish actor, possibly one of the most overrated actors of the last few years. Watching him "cry" was one of the funniest things about this film. He's that unconvincing. Shane, stick to "comedies" where you just play yourself, won't you? So why two stars? The younger cast members for one. Two, the surfing sequences are beautifully shot - and no, I'm not a surfie by any means.

kieran-j-lee This is going to have to become a gay cult favourite given the array of pretty boys on display here romping around with each other and the only remotely heterosexual action being a guy failing to satisfy his prospective girlfriend while his pal gets a blow job from her pal under the covers. I mean, at a couple points near the end one is left wondering whether or not the twin brothers are going to end up making out.This movie could have probably done with a bit of tighter editing with some scenes such as the campfire scene and the trip out to the pivotal surf site dragging on a bit long, but the in-water scenes are particularly good though essentially limited to two fairly brief but crucial points in the film.Shane Jacobson has a touching turn as the father, but unfortunately it is very difficult to picture him as anyone other than his legendary alter-ego Kenny and sadly for me this somewhat overshadowed his performance.I'd give this a 6 out of 10 and several people at the screening I saw left part way through, but for the reasons stated above there may be those for whom this film is a lot more appealing.

kinolieber Call me a gay philistine, but this movie has one of the most gorgeous group of young guys in any movie I've seen, and they spend most of the time bare-chested and often nude. But the film, in an effort, I guess, to get a PG rating, plays a ridiculous game of peek-a-boo with full frontal shots. If the film maker had just been casual about it, as films of the 21st century have been for a while, he might have added a bit of integrity and realism that the film could use. And probably made it even more commercially successful. Marketing people have obviously decided to downplay this aspect of the movie: the near constant focus on the guys' physical beauty, their faces, their bodies (especially their asses) and their surfing ability. And nowhere on the website or trailer is there any mention of the one really original aspect of the film: the integration of a gay teen in a group of straight guys: the way he's taunted, but accepted, and the way he finds his way to his first experience of reciprocated sexual affection.Maybe the filmmaker will release a gay director's cut and test my thesis.