The Oni Press comic Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life is closer to making it onto the big screen with the news that Michael Cera is in negotiations for the title role. While it'll be interesting to see how this romantic action-comedy's manga and video game influences are adapted to the big screen, I'll definitely be watching to see how they handle Scott's relationship with his gay roommate Wallace Wells.

In the comic, Scott and Wallace share a small apartment with space for only one bed, and the two are incredibly comfortable with the situation. In fact, both joke about the situation, trading sexual innuendos without any tension. Scott doesn't worry if sleeping in the same bed as a gay man threatens his heterosexuality and Wallace doesn't pine for his heterosexual bed mate.

Wallace is Scott's snarky voice of maturity, frequently calling Scott out on his emotional wishy-washiness. Wallace isn't perfect, though, and he isn't a sexless fairy godfather who is there to make Scott a better heterosexual. In the first Scott Pilgrim volume, he steals away the friend Scott's sister brings to a club, charming the guy with the way he hilariously heckles the band from their balcony seat.

The casting of Cera brings to mind his breakout role in Superbad, where the subtly-gay Seth (played by Jonah Hill, who certainly hasn't shied away from gay roles) seemed to have romantic feelings for Cera's character, Evan, a quality which Superbad played without turning to homophobic humor.

Cera's not the only person attached to Scott Pilgrim who has handled gay-ish themes comfortably. Edgar Wright is set to direct the film. Wright, who co-wrote and directed Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, gave us wonderfully touching "bromances" that didn't need to stoop to gay-baiting humor to affirm the guys' heterosexuality.

It's been great to see depictions of straight men who aren't threatened by an affectionate and intimate friendship, but Scott Pilgrim could take things further by depicting a "bromance" between a straight and gay guy with no underlying sexual tension. I don't want to overplay the prominence of Wallace (who is definitely a supporting character) but he could make Scott Pilgrim's Little Life one for gay filmgoers to keep an eye on.

Two honest-to-goodness gay films, a fun movie about straight male bonding that doesn't stoop to gay panic ... and 300.

300
This abs-and-sandals epic features more eye-candy than Wonka's factory and is a lot of fun to watch ... that is, until a mincing, unrealistic sissy villain shows up to give the straight boys someone to laugh at and slap gay viewers in the face. It's a shame that something this homoerotic couldn't show more respect for the men openly ogling its cast.

Hot Fuzz
This odd buddy comedy is turning out to be one of my favorite movies of the year. The lead guys from the similarly smart and level-headed Shaun of the Dead return as cops in a remote British village beset by a series of brutal murders. The guys obviously love one another, platonically -- but unlike other buddy comedies where the fellas freak out at the intimacy or the looming threat of being perceived as gay, these guys couldn't care less (they even fall asleep together on the couch). Refreshing, funny, and packed with wonderful character actors, it's worth a watch (or two).

Looking for Langston
This avant-garde gay 1989 film explores attitudes toward race and homosexuality in America, using acclaimed black gay poet Langston Hughes as a starting point for the discussion. Images of gay men of color are woefully rare in film, and the DVD release of this smart and resonant work is long overdue.

Whole New Thing
A hippie-homeschooled boy is sent to school for the first time at age 13 and promptly develops a crush on a male teacher, who happens to be gay but is smart enough to keep his hands off. This gay coming-of-age ("coming-of-gayge"?) Canadian film got warm reviews on the festival circuit and in limited release.

Recently an Australian journalist put an interesting question to Hot Fuzz leads Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, whom some folks might know from the wonderfully funny zombie comedy Shaun of the Dead:

There are moments in your TV series Spaced and a scene in Hot Fuzz where it seems like your characters might start kissing passionately. Is that deliberate or does it just happen?

Nick Frost: I think a lot of it is me gazing at Simon's mouth throughout that scene.

Simon Pegg: A lot of those movies like Lethal Weapon, Point Break, Bad Boys, where there's two male leads, there's always sort of a romantic chemistry between them. It's easy to reduce it to a gay subtext. I think it's more complex than that - it is about a kind of love, but it's also about that dilemma of straight guys who cannot emote to another man. It's almost sad in a way. But in Hot Fuzz the romance is definitely between Danny and Angel.

One of the things that impressed me most about Shaun was the bond between the male leads (my review of the film was titled "Brideshead Reanimated"). While the men are obviously straight, they also clearly love one another very much -- and more importantly, they don't stoop to respond to gay-baiting enemies who make implications about their relationship.

The film really stood out as a "next step" in buddy movies -- guys who aren't afraid of contact or of showing affection, and who don't consider being called "gay" an insult that requires a defense. It looks like this enlightened perspective might have found its way to cop caper Fuzz as well. The movie's gotten stellar reviews thus far -- check out this promising trailer for more: