First-time director Stovall renders all with the kitchen-lit, squarely composed aesthetic of timid prime-time TV, and his moral schema is no less ordinary.

The portrait of the Boyds is painted by Tommy Stovall, the film's writer and director, with such broad and venomous strokes that if the gay characters had been portrayed in the same way, the film would rightly be seen as bigoted.

... a flawed film that frequently tries to rise above standard TV dramas of the week.

Call it too much fuel to the fire in a misguided effort to bring home the tragedy of gay hate crimes.