A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Go in cold, and you're likely to emerge with your blood boiling. This has to be seen to be believed.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

This movie had such potential but the script was horrid. The acting was horribly stiff, especially the aunt's character. The actor who played Tommy appeared to be the only actor who has any acting chops and I was surprised to see that he has not had any other work outside of this movie. Frankly I still have not figured out what her role was in the movie. I really wanted to like this movie as the message is important but it just never got past bad acting, directing, and especially editing.The only good point of the movie was the music. There was some beautiful piano work in the movie.

Jeff London wrote, directed, and produced this little Indie film, and had he assumed only one of the duties, the result would probably have been a much better movie. The running time is 115 minutes and could have easily been edited down to about 85 minutes by excluding the corniest 'homey scenes' with Aunt Lillian sharing pie recipes and girl talk that add nothing to the plot and only tire the viewer.David (Jesse Petrick) and his little brother Ricky (Anthony J. Domingues) have traveled with their divorced father Brian (Jeff Davis) from their big city home to Brian's beach hometown to visit Aunt Lillian (Phyllis Rodenberger) for the summer. As this seemingly happy family (though broken by divorce) settles in, and Brian reunites with his old buddy Tommy (Jeremy Douglas) who has taken in his younger brother Seth (Mathieu Smith) as a favor to his family, the reason for the change of home will be revealed later. As Brian and Tommy re-bond, both having losses in their lives since their boyhood, David and Seth get to know each other and gradually discover an attraction that goes beyond friendship. After a tender and quiet kiss at night on the beach, they acknowledge their attraction, only to be betrayed by the threat young Ricky poses as he declares he will inform David's father of his brother's perversion! The boys confront their feelings with the David's father and Seth's brother and find acceptance and unconditional love from families mature enough to accept them. Seth reveals his several month's history of 'rehabilitation clinic for gays' experience which led to his moving in with his brother Tommy and the bigotry and tragedy of that event solidly bonds all of the families during the summer referenced in the title.Much has been said about the amateur acting in this film, but for this viewer the acting on the part of the four main characters is not at all weak: the direction is flaccid and begs for focus and tightening of scenes that would have made the edited down version of this film a very moving story. An additional annoyance is the insipid music score (piano only) that breaks into 'Simple Gifts' at the most inappropriate time. But the message of acceptance of gay boys coming out is handled well and has enough original thought and subtlety to merit watching. Grady Harp

If I had read the previous comments, I probably would not have bothered with this movie. This has to be the worst film I've ever suffered through. It made "Swept Away" look like a 5 star movie. The script and the acting was just dreadful. None of the actors were able to bring any life into their character. The subject matter had not dept. The plot did not build up and there was no climax. The entire movie was flat. If you want to see real life gay drama covering every issue imaginable, my number one recommendation is to rent Showtime's "Queer As Folk". You'll be hooked after the very first episode, and it does not disappoint. Another would be "Making Love", with Harry Hamlin. Now that was good!

I cannot begin to explain so that others will realize how BAD this movie is. On a recommendation I rented this (unfortunately my list of movies to watch doesn't tell me who told me to see them, or I'd never speak to them again). It was AWFUL. The acting was very amateur (that's an insult to amateurs actually, I've seen some home movies that are better than this); The directing is almost nonexistent: two characters are often scrunched together (on a couch or standing) so closely so they fit in the frame-- looks very unnatural. The story... hah! I think most of it was adlibbed... and quite poorly. Most of the dialogue is so forced and fake that it's sickening... and to top it off, most of the dialogue doesn't relate to the story AT ALL. Definitely one of the worst I have ever seen. 1/10 only because we can't give zeros.