Out at the Movies: "I Love You, Man," "The New Twenty"

Relax, you don't have to see that inane new Nicolas Cage movie when two notable films of queer interest are opening on the same weekend.

Read on for the details!

The big opener this weekend is, of course, I Love You, Man, the same-sex love story for straight guys. Paul Rudd stars as Peter, a newly-affianced man who realizes that he doesn't have any male friends close enough to be considered for the best-man gig. With the encouragement of his bride-to-be (Rashida Jones) and some tips from his hetero-chasing gay brother (Andy Samberg), Peter enters into a relationship with loose-cannon Sydney (Jason Segel). Wackiness — and a lot of laughs — ensue.

Samberg's character ranks alongside the gays on The Sarah Silverman Program as the smart new comic approach to screen queers in that he's just a dude. It's nice to know that Hollywood is starting to figure out that we homos come in all shapes, sizes and temperaments.

And speaking of toying with the paradigm, festival fave The New Twenty opens in Los Angeles this weekend. It's a smartly-written movie about college pals panicking as they hit their 30s, but one of the things that I find most interesting about the film is that the ripped guy who often goes shirtless is actually one of the straight characters, while the gays are either bearish, Asian or middle-aged — and, to a man, sexy. (And usually invisible in other movies.)

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