A boy's first abs-centric profile pic...what could possibly go wrong?

BOY CULTURE RATING: **** out of ****

I went into the new comedy G.B.F. when it was on the filmfest circuit (order it now on DIRECTV through December 19 in advance of a theatrical release in January) with reservations. Interestingly, this teen comedy about the status symbol of having a gay best friend was directed by Darren Stein, whose Jawbreaker (1999) I didn't love, but which seems to have turned into a cult classic when I wasn't looking. Still, G.B.F. promised to be another overly precious or accidentally obnoxious teen comedy...or another sloppy gay movie. Or the new B.A.P.s.

Worst of all, a friend of mine—and one of the producers of Boy Culture—is one of the producers. What were the odds that someone I knew would be attached to a masterpiece?

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The movie may fall short of masterpiece status, but not by much. G.B.F. impressively adds something new to the gay genre, in the process winding up a more than worthy successor to the teen template epitomized by classics like Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), Clueless (1995) and Mean Girls (2004). It accomplishes this herculean task by being rapid-fire witty, by boasting a note-perfect cast of dozens and by possessing the one thing that every light comedy needs: real heart.

From the opening credits—yearbook rainbows, a cheeky summer-sex song—and the first few words of our hero's narration, G.B.F. is already in the zone. "Tanner" (played with no affectation but with maximum adorbs-ability by Michael J. Willett) and his bestie "Brent" (a hilariously, but believably camp Paul Iacono) are gay and out to each other and their small circle of friends, but Brent longs to make a splash as the first out student in their high school's history. But first, he wants to get laid.

Opportunity knocks when a well(?)-intentioned gay/straight alliance member (Joanna Levesque, the onetime teen popstar JoJo) gets the idea to use gay hook-up app Guydar (yes, Boy Culture readers, I wondered about that, too) to locate any 'mos in school in order to have a real, live homosexual on their committee. Brent is already using the app to find a potential boyfriend, enlisting Tanner as his accomplice. It just so happens that the queen bees of the school's three biggest factions are also in search of what the teen magazines have identified as the season's must-have accessory, the gay best friend or G.B.F. Together, they use the app to out a hapless Tanner while suddenly shy does nothing to intercede.

Once outed, Tanner turns against his old crew, slowly embracing the faboosh makeover offered him by the school's popularettes and ignoring the G.S.A. in favor of stylish notoriety. He may not "even sound like the ones on Bravo," but he's a bona fide gay, and that means he is G.B.F. material.

"Caprice" (Xosha Roquemore, currently seen as Mindy Kaling's sassy receptionist) rules the school's drama-club drama queens and its "loose collection of minorities," "'Shley" (Desperate Housewives' Andrea Bowen) is a Mormon princess whose subjects are made up of religious conservatives, and "Fawcett" (a hard-working Sasha Pieterse, who brings glam and layers to a role that could've ended with the glam) presides over everyone else, the ultimate blonde teen queen. These lean, mean teens work together only because they have to in order to get what they want—each wants a fashionable G.B.F., namely Tanner, to escort her to the prom, where prom-queen status surely awaits.

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The lengths to which these girls will go—and the lengths to which Brent will go in retaliation against Tanner's LiLo-like descent into popular douchedom—are funny, but the laughs are spiked with trenchant social commentary, like not-quite-poisonous darts.

I mentioned the film's outstanding cast, and it's hard to single people out when the male leads are oozing chemistry and making you fall in love with them even as they flirt with falling in love with each other, but special mention must be made of Megan Mulally, whose a-little-too-cool mommy (to Brent) is a cinema classic. Watching her take in the infamous Brokeback Mountain rough-sex scene with her teenage son will have you LOLing at G.B.F., and that won't be the only time it happens.

Three mean girls and a little lady.

Reminiscent of Grease (1978), G.B.F. is packed with more familiar faces, including Natasha Lyonne as a mildly warped teacher (whose cat is named "Anderson Coo-PURR), principal Horatio Sanz and parents Rebecca Gayheart (a Jawbreaker vet) and Jonathan Silverman. It's also generous in the hunk department, offering horny Mormon Taylor Frey, straight male fag hag Derek Mio and micro-dicked bully Brock Harris.

But for all of its A-plus components, probably the best thing G.B.F. has going for it is its solid foundation: the script by George Northy, whose witty, politically incorrect humor sounds of-the-moment and rarely misses its mark.

G.B.F. is a snarktastic riot, and one with an easy-to-swallow message: Unlike designer bling, gay people don't fit into boxes, and it's not appropriate to use them as accessories, bitch.