Billed as a Lethal Weapon–type action comedy with two gay leads, this frothy mystery caper centers on an aspiring actor named Danny and his ex-boyfriend Pip, who find themselves sucked into a crime spree targeting Hollywood’s so-called Velvet Mafia.

Danny (Marc Samuel of General Hospital) is working as a waiter and attending a class for private investigators as research for an upcoming audition. As part of his homework assignment, he takes to “stalking” Pip (film newbie Brian McArdle), a rich party boy who lives in the guest house owned by his boozy, pill-popping mother. When Pip attends a sex party with some of Hollywood’s gay power players and ends up getting robbed by a mysterious and vengeful duo, the bickering exes decide to play Hardy Boys by solving the case themselves, since nobody involved in the scandal wants the police sniffing around. Pip’s new boy toy, Robin, provides extra tension and eye candy.

From the opening Bond-spoofing credits to the flirty will-they-or-won’t-they banter, writer-director Doug Spearman (an actor on the Logo hit Noah’s Arc) clearly has a sincere love of classic Hollywood detective stories and an aim to turn them on their head. With bullets and comic zingers flying, Hot Guys with Guns is uproarious viewing; and Spearman has crafted — in an often-tired genre — something fresh and tremendously entertaining.