For some sociological reason I have yet to decode, teenage Japanese girls have a thing for comic books depicting hot boy-on-boy romances, complete with steamy sex scenes. This yaoi derivative of manga finds its way onto film in the perfectly titled Boys Love, a pretty and shiny film (originally made for Japanese TV) that aims for romantic highs but lands in a warm bath of soapy lows.

Dashing young celebrity magazine reporter Mamiya (Kotani Yoshikazu) has been sent to interview high school student and up-and-coming male model Noeru (Saito Takumi), a beautiful boy with a devilish self-destructive streak. No sooner has Mamiya excused himself from the interview to go to the restroom than the teen follows him in and ropes him into a quick bathroom stall assignation. Mamiya is simultaneously repulsed and thrilled.

Getting to know Noeru better, Mamiya discovers that the boy is a tortured soul who whores himself out to a different man every night in search of carnal thrills while avoiding romantic entanglements because he doesn't believe in love. In his painful experience, people break their promises.

Mamiya decides it will be his mission to get Noeru back on track by showing him loyalty, teaching him how to box, and joining him for lap swimming down at the pool. It seems to work at first. Noeru reapplies himself to his schoolwork, and the pair may indeed make a happy couple.

Conflict arises when one of Noeru's oldest school chums, Chidori (Matsumoto Hiroya), gets jealous. Chidori has long worshipped Noeru, and as Mamiya muscles in, Chidori decides that like Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction, he won't be ignored. And you know how that movie ended. No bunnies get boiled here, but there will be knives.

Director Kohtaru Terauchi separates the film's scenes with corny Bartlett's-style quotations about the nature of love from experts such as Shakespeare, Hemingway, and Montaigne. In the behind-the-scenes featurette, he offers the intriguing viewpoint that because gay relationships have no biological imperative, the love expressed by two men is somehow extra pure and extra romantic. It's all about the connection, not about breeding. Well, I don't know, but everyone involved certainly pushes the romantic angle with long lingering glances, delicate artwork painted by Noeru, playful poolside hugs, and rough-and-tumble sex. Mamiya does eventually unlock the secret to Noeru's troubled soul -- and it ain't much of a secret -- but he may not be able to enjoy his new-found knowledge if the jealous and angry Chidori has his way.