Breakfast With Scot (2008) Movie Review

Eric (Thomas Cavanagh, Eli Stone, Scrubs) is a former hockey player for the Toronto Maple Leafs, turned sportscaster. Sam (Ben Shenkman, Requiem for a Dream, Roger Dodger) is a successful sport’s lawyer. Together the pair have been in a committed relationship for the last four years, unbeknownst to most of the people that either men work with, in what is typically a non-gay friendly world. Sam has a thrill seeking brother named Billy (Colin Cunningham) who announces that he has just taken a job in South America.

Shortly after moving, Billy’s ex-girlfriend, Julie, is discovered dead from a drug overdose, leaving behind her son Scot, to Billy, despite Billy not being Scot’s father. The problem is, Billy is incommunicado, so desperate to move Scot out of Child Services, Sam is called. Scot is thrust upon Eric and Sam, disrupting their carefully crafted lives.

Billy remains unreachable until he discovers that there is some money to be had from Julie’s insurance. This is the only thing that convinces Billy to return to pick up Scot.

When Scot arrives, it becomes painfully obvious that Scot is different from other kids. They chalk it up to mourning until they open his duffel bag, discovering a feather boa, beads, gold chains and makeup. Scot proves to be a rather flamboyant 11 year old, with tendencies toward the feminine.

Due to their differences in schedule and Scot’s preference toward him, Eric, who never wanted kids in the first place, ends up answering the call more often than not to answer to Scot’s needs.

Eric really struggles to connect with Scot, until he introduces Scot to hockey, the sport that Eric played growing up, and the sport that Eric managed hide his homosexuality behind, something that he is still doing to this day. Scot seems to take to hockey and even manages to forge the gap between weird and being a jock, gaining acceptance with the neighborhood street tuff/ star center for the local pee wee hockey team.

Very quickly, Eric begins to realize that he has more to learn from Scot than he knew possible. This epiphany really comes to fruition when it is time for Billy to pick up Scot. Now the closeted, no child wanting Eric cannot bare the thought losing Scot. The film comes to climax at Christmas, where Billy introduces his surprise fiancée Mia, whom he introduces as Scot’s new mommy.

Breakfast with Scot is a heart warming tale. The homosexuality is very played down, perhaps to further Eric’s own fear of people knowing about his sexuality. The roles of Sam and Eric could have honestly been played by a heterosexual couple, and the film would still have a strong message, but the homosexual relationship does give the film a bold stance.

Technically the film is very well crafted and each of the actors give strong performances. Noah Bernett, who plays Scot proves that he is a very talented young actor. His performance is extremely well formulated, once that requires a tremendous character arc, one that Noah portrays very well.

Breakfast with Scot does an excellent job at walking the fine line between being an in your face gay movie and a film that even the most conservative of people could enjoy.