The whole device of role-switching is helpful. If a woman kissed Paul Rudd after what she thought was a date, it would be extremely awkward, a little sad and a little funny (in a schadenfreude kind of way). But substitute a man and it amplifies the “funny” times a thousand. Plus, as you said, putting it in the trailer is proof that a lot people are going to see it outside the context of the whole movie — and they’re just going to laugh because they think two dudes kissing is a riot.

As I tried to express, it’s not intolerance. But it is irksome that a fundamental aspect of one’s life could be (for lack of a better, milder word) exploited for a laugh, especially for a supposedly enlightened crew. I mean, I was never upset at I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry because it’s fucking Adam Sandler.

My sentiment can be best expressed with a sigh, slight eye roll and a muttering of “Really?!”

For what it’s worth, I don’t mind the treatment of the affectionate male friendships in Scrubs and Superbad because they have a sweetness about them that is definitely lacking in the SNL sketches (and perhaps ILYM, but I don’t know — only seen the trailer).

And I thought about mentioning the gay Samberg character, but it was a bit of a distraction. I have some thoughts about it, but I’ll save it.

(Also, possibly appropos of nothing, Andy Samberg’s character, Rudd’s brother, is apparently gay in the movie? Though I see that’s not really clear from the trailer.)

But I think what a lot of these movies — if not SNL sketches, since they do tend to go for whatever laugh, even if ti’s cheap — are actually about is male friendship. And I think that is rich territory, playing on how guys are “supposed” to act towards each other and how some men express (or don’t) those warmer feelings… that’s something I loved about Superbad, which found humor in how much those two guys really depended on each other without making it about how that’s weird or “looks gay” or something. On TV, Scrubs, actually, does this really well, I think. It’s sort of a running gag that JD and Turk are super-duper close and affectionate, but it doesn’t come off as cheap shots to me.

To me, the greater issue is whether some of these writers/actors/etc. might eventually show an interest in exploring other types of relationships in an equally funny, affectionate, but not soapy/sappy sort of way — like having a female character who isn’t mainly a love interest or a gay character where that’s not his or her #1 character trait.

i was particularly irritated by jimmy kimmel’s “i’m f*ing ben affleck” response to sarah silverman’s “i’m f*ing matt damon” video. people went wild over both videos, but while i thought silverman’s was fun and funny, kimmel’s was annoying and uninspired–exactly what you’re talking about here.

My roommate brought up this point with regard to I Love You, Man—that she was kind of hesitant about the movie because she thought there would be a lot of those awkward “no really, we’re not gay, no really” jokes, and we’re both kind of tired of that. I suppose I trust Paul Rudd not to go for that easy joke a little more than I trust Judd Apatow, because I think he’s been getting a little lazy.