To me, this movie is perfection.

This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

I saw this on Netflix, which offered only the very briefest of descriptions, so I had no idea what to expect. But since Netflix had it listed in the LGBT category, I did at least expect a gay-ish theme. But the repeated and somewhat heavy-handed references early in the film to evangelical Christianity (citing of Biblical verses, the prayer at the funeral, the lyrics of the overtly evangelical hymn in the sound track) left me very confused. I am left with the impression of a screenwriter who is gay but also a devout evangelical Christian, a juxtaposition that I personally find troubling. Still, I tried to give the film some benefit of doubt. I was not successful. The writing was uneven and at times very unrealistic, especially in the way Nick's social abilities ... as a person with Asperger's ... vacillated across a wide range. It was as though he suddenly stopped having Asperger's when the writer/director needed him to be able to emote "normally."And the characters seemed too contrived. Wealthy family with domineering and controlling father, submissive pill-popping mother, "perfect" elder son, challenged younger son. It was all too transparent. But the composition of the boys' poker group! One wealthy white with a prestige car, one probable Latino with a mother who worked as a maid, one black guy who looked like he was channeling Pharrell, and one South Asian. It was like a little United Nations! And it seemed totally artificial. The acting was not great, either. I love both BD Wong and Joan Chen, but neither performance impressed me. But this may be due to the limitations of the material with which they had to work. The boys (Poker Group plus Nick) were very unevenly matched, from Justin Martin's downright bad acting to Gregg Sulkin's roller-coaster of scene-by-scene good-to-bad-to-good-again. Call me crazy, but this entire film might have worked better if a) the overt references to evangelical Christianity were removed and b) the setting were shifted from the wealthy suburbs of LA to a working class neighborhood in middle America.

I actually like Boo Boo Stewart but I didn't like him in this. I understood what the director was trying to do but it seems like he got caught up in trying to create a really dramatic indie film that he didn't know what kind of story he wanted to tell. I realize that each movie has a main plot and many subplots but I had a hard time trying to figure out what the main plot actually was. Some areas of the movie would explore certain topics but then would just skip over them for the rest of the movie. Other points were just unrealistic in my opinion.I understand the BooBoo Stewart's character has Asperger Syndrome but it seemed like he was just being shy the whole time. Maybe I'm just used to seeing Max Burkholder play a child with asperger's on the TV show "Parenthood" that Boo Boo's portrayal was a bit laughable to me. I didn't empathize, I was just really uncomfortable. Anyways, like I said I was confused about what the movie wanted to be about. Was it about the main character coming to terms with trying to live with his condition? Was it about teen boys struggle to be honest with their families about their sexuality? Was it about a young boy breaking free of the expectations of his religious and strict parents? Was it about a family coming to terms with their son's sudden death? Was it about a struggling art center for kids staying afloat when there main contributor dies? Funny thing about it, this movie was about all these things and it made the movie fill so diluted and rushed.I will give a huge kudos to Joan Chen for her performance. She had certain scenes that really touched my heart and I enjoyed her portrayal. I wish there would have been more of build up so I could invest in the characters more. I thought the way the three friends found out that the two guys were gay lovers was so whack and laughable. The ending speech Boo Boo gave at the end was corny and tried too hard to be metaphorically deep. I didn't understand the father's relationship with his wife or kids or his motivation for being an ass hole. I hate when people use religion as a scapegoat as an excuse to not be more creative with homophobic topics as well. Also, that seen between Boo Boo and the homeless people was so unrealistic, I was shocked it even made it in the movie.All in all, this movie had more flaws than I could stand. I watched the whole movie and just wasn't impressed and wanted that last hour back. The director tried to hard to make an emotionally dramatic movie that he forgot to tell a good story, which is usually what a film is supposed to be. Stop worrying about winning film festivals, winning awards and etc. Just tell a good story and everything else will come.

------ THIS REVIEW CONTAINS VERY MINOR SPOILERS ------I really wanted to love this film, but I couldn't. I liked it, but still, there are too many flaws for me. I watched this knowing absolutely nothing about it. I didn't know the plot, nor the characters, nor the actors, nor anything at all. So there you go for my level of personal expectations: I had none whatsoever. As the movie progressed I got to see some familiar faces such as Tyler Posey (from Teen Wolf) and Kelly Hu (from X2) but, sadly, they didn't play the part.The acting throughout the film is sub par. I won't say PLAIN BAD or anything like that because the actors were all so likable and you could see that they were having a good time and I can really appreciate that, but yeah, they didn't deliver it for the most part. There are, however, -- some -- amazing scenes with Joan Chen and Booboo Stewart, but the only actor who seemingly nailed all of his scenes throughout the movie was Gregg Sulkin (Randy). Pretty good job overall on his part. I was particularly impressed after learning he is a "Disney Kid". I'd keep an eye out for him in the future if I were working in the industry.The plot has some really good messages about tolerance, friendship, love, respect and all that good stuff many people seem to forget to apply to their lives nowadays, but the pacing was off... Felt rushed in some parts and too slow on others. Some characters were also poorly written, specially Randy because of one particular scene. He seemed to be a douche in the beginning, but, off-screen, develops this amazing friendship with Nick all of a sudden and (in the aforementioned scene) lectures him about stuff that he himself doesn't seem to apply in his actions. It could've been easily avoided by giving this scene to another character such as Doug.The editing was a little off, minor complaints here. Some more shots of transition would be nice because some cuts seem too abrupt, but overall it's decent. The direction is also decent, but very technical, which can be a con in this case.Overall it's a pretty decent 'feel-good' type of movie. Based on that, I'd give it 5 out of 10: It's watchable and can be nice, but don't expect something new or extraordinary here. The ending though, is particularly well-done.

Nick Yung has a brother whom he adores, and he has Aspbergers. He comes from a seemingly perfect American/Oriental family, but perfection's not all it's cracked up to be.On the death of his brother, life starts to unravel and he slowly uncovers the truth that lies just beneath the perfect veneer of his life.Nick conquers his differences and goes on a journey to discover that not only do people keep secrets, but that uncovering those secrets can set you free and make you whole.The acting in this film is terrific, especially from the young man who played Nick so well. It's a lovely little film that made me smile and cry in all the right places.Well worth a viewing.