Let me start by saying that Brokeback Mountain gets a big fat ZERO on the Shaun-o-meter. For those of you new to this site, the Shaun-o-meter (named after my ex-boyfriend) is used to determine whether sports-loving, beer-drinking, boob/booty-oogling guys will respond to a movie. For example, we can apply the Shaun-o-meter to several movies released this month (December 2005). King Kong would rate about a 7 due to lots of action and special effects (a sex scene or a little nudity from Naomi Watts would have given it an extra point). Memoirs of a Geisha would score about a 1, beautiful women but no sex and no nudity. There isn't a lot of action either; however, there is a cat fight between two women (which is where it earns that one point).

More than anything Brokeback Mountain is the story of secret, frustrated love. Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal), a some time rodeo cowboy, and Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger), a quiet Wyoming ranch hand, meet in the summer of 1963 while herding sheep on Brokeback Mountain. With nothing but time on their hands, the two form a friendship that turns into something neither one expected. At the end of the summer, they part ways and move on with their lives. Both men marry. Both start families. But neither can deny what they shared together. After about four years, Jack initiates contact with Ennis and over the next 15 years, the men manage to see each other several times a year for 'fishing' and 'hunting' trips. The depth of their bond grows and so does Ennis's conviction that what they have stay on Brokeback Mountain.

Gyllenhaal and Ledger give Oscar-worthy performances. However, Ledger has the more difficult task. Ennis is a man of very few words, so Ledger must communicate his pain non-verbally, through his eyes, his expressions, his body language. Michelle Williams as Ennis's wife (Ledger's wife in real life) also gives a compelling performance as a woman who struggles with the reality of her marriage.

Director Ang Lee paces the film like the languid, open cowboy life it depicts. Dialogue is sparse. And there is shot after shot of wide open Wyoming landscape. He takes his time and he keeps the film firmly focused on these two men. There are no distractions. The movie works for me because Ang Lee lets these men and their story make the statement. He doesn't beat us over the head with a heavy-handed moral or social statement. More than a gay story, it's a story of forbidden love. And it's a story that is well told.

Now, the question you want to know. Just how gay is it? Well, if you are gay and used to seeing all sorts of heterosexual sex on the screen, the answer is probably not enough. The truth is that there is one sex scene which, although sort of rough, is over in less than a minute. There are two scenes with passionate kissing but honestly that is about it.