A new film that turns up the bedroom heat between a surf-loving art student and a blocked Hollywood writer scores extra points when these hang-10 guys create a loving home for a latch-key kid. In writer/director Jonah Markowitz's sizzling debut feature Shelter, Zach (Trevor Wright) has put his artistic future on hold to play substitute dad for his single sister's five-year-old son, Cody (Jackson Wurth). Juggling babysitting, short-order-cook duties and a bed-dead girlfriend has Zach at wit's end until an encounter with his best friend's older brother Shaun (Brad Rowe) rips his world apart.

Zach's "family gene" elevates him above your typical feckless young gay male protagonist: he's loyal to a fault to his beleaguered little family unit. It helps that Markowitz cradles his story and his talented cast in the visually rich working-class enclave of beach-town San Pedro. Shelter gains visual and thematic heft from repeated shots of the magnificent suspension bridge and golden beaches that abut a desolation-row Main Street, scenic elements that reinforce the motif of bad times in paradise underlying Zach's hardscrabble existence. Even moments where it's evident that scenes were cut provide verisimilitude: nearly comatose Dad gets short shrift, then disappears from the rest of the movie, a secular miracle that's the answer to many a dysfunctional household's prayers.

A smart touch has this boy's life-changing affair arrive on cat's paws — if you stumbled upon this movie cold, you wouldn't necessarily know where it was headed until the first lip-lock. There's a pitch-perfect chemistry between the TV-trained but emotionally nimble Wright and the silky smooth Brad Pitt look-alike Rowe; a decade ago, Rowe was the boytoy object of Sean Hayes' infatuated fashion photographer in Tommy O'Haver's comedy Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss. Wright and Rowe possess an affectionate chemistry that stands them in good stead through Zach's post-coital regrets and backsliding. Zach and Shaun hook up for one of those classic college guy/slightly older guy mentoring bonds, a relationship neatly navigated by two straight actors who clearly like each other. The bed stuff is hot, but it's the warm eyes across the pillows that sell us on this couple.

The other crucial pairing — the conscience-stricken gay brother and the jealous if not phobic big sister —is thoroughly believable, even if their sparring is given a somewhat abrupt resolution. The filmmakers were determined to have a happy ending, and judging by the film's sky-high queer ratings on IMDB, this first feature offering from here!TV is a home run.

The surfing scenes, while not in a league with Point Break or Endless Summer, give Shelter the slightly dreamy patina of a glorious season that ends on just the right note. Perky little tyke Jackson Wurth, as Cody, is bubbly as the recipient of that ultimate blonde justice: two dads competing for the honor of spoiling a kid silly.