Truly Dreadful Film

just watch it!

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

I liked this movie up to a certain point. When I saw that the brother was a Minister, I said to myself "this is – not at all – an ordinary family".How many people have Ministers in their family? Is this typical for the "ordinary USA-family"? I don't think so.OK, the fact that Thomas is a Man of God and that his brother is Gay adds some drama to an ordinary story… Actors and actresses do a good job here, but – as someone wrote before – in an extraordinary scenery, which is far from being the daily life of an ordinary family… I had some trouble going through the last 15 minutes… Nevertheless, I'll give it a 5/10. This movie could have been so much better.

Why is this family in a perpetual fit of giggles? These people are either in a hot tub together, giggling, or sitting around in a circle singing songs, while giggling, or swimming and giggling or eating food together and giggling. I could go on. The film is basically scenes of the family giggling together sewn together with a backdrop of homogeneous, gentle music. Sorry guys- nice shooting and the actors did what they could with the writing, but the truth (if you can bare to hear it- the writers don't seem to think you can) is that no "ordinary family" enjoys their own company that much.Aside from the above criticism, in which I discredited the film's realism, there are several redeeming factors which drag this film out of ridiculously bad film territory. One being the pretty scenery. I challenge you to watch this and not envy the folks living in that gorgeous house. Another being the central theme of the gay son wanting acceptance from his brother. I'm not going to go on about this, but I think that it gives the film a point. It isn't a pointless film, which is good.

I did really enjoy the film. It threw up many questions for me but provided few answers, quite rightly so.It made me feel that we (western capitalist nations) bring up male children very badly. In this film the women are the peace makers, the understanders, the open arms. The men are competitive, sparring; on one hand full of self regard, yet on the other hand riddled with insecurities. The constant need to be "right", the need to achieve, the need to be cared for and accepted. Draining, tiresome men. The gay men slightly less so, I suppose you could say they embody a bit more of womanhood than the straight guys in the film. I feel that this is a very accurate portrayal.Some great performances, particularly from the brother-priest who can barely look at his gay brother and partner. You feel you just want to say, for crying out loud just let it go, love your brother. Made me hate religion and uptight western culture even more. What would persuade him to withhold his love from his brother ? His interpretation of the bible ? His need to be right or "good" ... hells teeth !Constantly throughout the film I kept wondering about the characters and the casting and the portrayals. The sister, who is slim and beautiful has an obese, sweaty husband who is borderline special- needs. He is needy, annoying and displays charm only on his own terms. I wondered whether we were supposed to say in our minds, oh look the priest-brother accepts him as his sister's partner with no apparent difficulty and yet the gay brother's partner is very much in question. I wondered about the looks of the gay brother compared to the looks of his partner. Was the partner deliberately chosen for his looks and if so, what are we to read into that? If you haven't seen this film, the gay brother is slim perfect featured super white teeth. His partner is over weight unshaven with a gaped grin. Not to say he isn't quite charming and a wonderful person, I just felt manipulated by this question.The women in the film are all strong and warm, especially the priests wife, beautifully played with an almost unscripted style of delivery. Not only has she to love her godly husband but love his brother too and embrace the gay man that he is. Her dogged determination not to let her husband get away with a single syllable that is against they gay brother is breath-taking, both in its scripting and delivery.I expected to feel tearful watching the film but I didn't, I think that is testament to the light and yet unflinching direction and closely written script.Definitely a film to watch and think about.