This story shows how a gay man can be a loving father, and how a more "traditional" couple doesn't always have a child's best interest at heart. Martin Donovan plays Martyn, a gay man whose ex wife (Joely Richardson) has custody of their son Oliver. Oliver escapes to his dad's one day with a severe injury to his face that he says was caused by some bullies. Martyn discovers Oliver was home alone with the mom's boyfriend (Jason Flemyng, whom I think is too young for the role). Martyn feels something is odd with the whole situation. When Oliver is injured again, and his story doesn't match his injury, Martyn starts proceedings to get Oliver back into his custody, accusing the boyfriend of abuse, which the ex claims is not true.
The boyfriend is basically one of those that are sweet in public but a monster behind closed doors. He blames Oliver for having to discipline him, over the smallest things.
The film also delves a bit into the rights of gays as parents and discrimination against homosexuals so it's not just an abusive boyfriend story, which is real life is all too common.
I think I would have liked it a bit more if the main character was also British, as Donovan didn't seem to fit the role for me, although he did a good job depicting the anguish a parent feels when unable to protect their children, as well as the discrimination that homosexuals get over unrelated reasons. Richardson was good in her role and the character wasn't shown to be all lily white, and she went back to the boyfriend for a brief time even after she knew the truth.
The child actor Sam Bould was good too, he was reserved and withdrawn, but didn't have a lot of lines so a lot of it was his face and body language. Too bad he hasn't done much acting.
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