The Go-To-Gay...on movies

From left to right: Gary and Wade

**Giveaway is now closed**

Wade Rouse is "The Go-To Gay" here at Chick Lit Central. After all, without gay guys, a lot of our chick lit heroines would be missing out on some awesome best friends! If you missed his previous posts for this new series, check them out here. This month, Wade is here to talk about movies and the ones he loves watching with the special man in his life.

The writings of bestselling humorist Wade Rouse – called “wise, witty and wicked” by USA Today and the lovechild of Erma Bombeck and David Sedaris – have been featured multiple times on NBC’s Today Show as well as on Chelsea Lately on E! and People.com. His latest memoir, "It’s All Relative: 2 Families, 3 Dogs, 34 Holidays and 50 Boxes of Wine," just launched in paperback February 1st from Broadway, and he is creator and editor of the humorous dog anthology, "I’m Not the Biggest Bitch in This Relationship: Hilarious, Heartwarming Tales about Man’s Best from America’s Favorite Humorists" (NAL). The book features a Foreword by Chelsea Handler’s dog, Chunk, essays by such beloved chick lit authors as Jane Green, and 50 percent of the book’s net royalties go to the Humane Society of the United States. His first memoir, "America's Boy," has been re-published by Magnus Books for paperback and Kindle. It has a fun new cover too! For more, visit his website, or friend him on Facebook or Twitter.

Wade has one copy of "America's Boy" for a lucky US reader...just in time for the 4th of July!

“You Complete Me!”

My partner, Gary, is the king of the romantic comedy and the queen of the girl-in-trouble movie.
He is one of the few men who religiously watches Lifetime. In fact, he will hide the remote from me, while screaming, “Girl! Jo from The Facts of Life is in some serious trouble! Get me some popcorn!’” He is extensions and an Adam’s Apple extraction away from being Anne Hathaway.
He drags me to any female-driven romantic comedy where tears are shed and there is a happy ending.
I am a bit more cynical moviegoer, a tougher TV critic: In fact, I find few shows and movies that are exceedingly well done. Most seem made to fit categories that appeal to specific groups, with seemingly little thought for plot, writing, acting. Cast a likeable star, put her in a wacky situation, have her lose a man, bingo!
My dynamic with Gary, however, is what has made us such a perfect pairing over the years. Gary and I are, in many ways, a modern-day Lucy and Ricky. His free-wheeling, chocolate-factory, Vitameatavegamin, “Riiiccckkyy” yin versus my sarcastic, routine-driven, “Luuucccyyy!” yang.
Like in any great relationship, we learn from each other. Gary now appreciates musicals (Don’t get me started: He once despised the fact that everyone “sang everything they could just as easily say”), he saves for retirement, he asks about the stock market. And I now know how to bake a mean Snickerdoodle, wile away a rainy afternoon watching romantic comedies, and appreciate the intricacies of a Dyson.
Yes, Gary has been successful over the years with – pardon the Dyson pun – sucking me into his world and, as a result, I’ve become an aficionado at those movies that truly earn your emotions; the ones that can make you laugh, cry and feel deeply for the characters. Some of my favorites (and this is just a partial … I know we all have our favorites!):

-My Best Friend’s Wedding
-When Harry Met Sally
-Annie Hall
-Groundhog Day
-Pretty Woman
-Sleepless in Seattle
-4 Weddings and A Funeral
-Moonstruck
-Pretty in Pink
-Sixteen Candles
-Legally Blonde
-Say Anything
-While You Were Sleeping
-Love, Actually
-Something’s Gotta Give
-Must Love Dogs
-Knocked Up

Fittingly, the longer I write and the more books I turn out, the more my work is looked at by Hollywood as source material for potential movies or TV shows. Since I write memoir and humor (I am a sort of “man Nora Ephron” or “lovechild of Erma Bombeck and David Sedaris,” as critics say), my books are often viewed through the lens of romantic comedy. A number of my memoirs – including "At Least in the City Someone Would Hear Me Scream," about what happens when neurotic urbanites quit their jobs and leave the city, cable and couture behind to move to the woods in order to recreate a modern-day Walden, and "It’s All Relative," my ode to the beauty and dysfunction of family holidays – have been considered for movies, albeit with one caveat: That Gary and I be turned into a straight couple.
To say I have been upset by such a suggestion would be a mammoth understatement. To say I have been surprised by such a suggestion would be a mammoth understatement.
Hollywood is a business. Gays are often still relegated to supporting roles. While a number of shows and movies are laying important groundwork, such as Modern Family, my ultimate goal is for gays to take the lead. My books showcase Gary and I as any other couple, be it Lucy and Ricky, Hanks and Ryan, you and your husband. Sure, we are a bit wackier and a touch more unhinged than most, but we are – after 16 years – still totally in love and insanely happy. My goal is to make sure the Hollywood versions of my work showcase that. My goal is to make us the lead characters, not the supporting ones.
Gary has made me believe in love and laughter. He has made me realize that happy endings don’t just happen in the movies.
And, one day, I hope that is depicted in a romantic comedy, and that a movie based on one of my books – with two male leads – ends up on your all-time favorites list.

Special thanks to Wade for another wonderful post that makes us want to watch more chick flicks (and 80's movies) and to Gary for all his help with the Go-to-Gay posts and for sharing his great taste in movies with Wade. Thanks to both of them, as well, for sharing "America's Boy" with our readers.

How to win "America's Boy": Please tell us what your favorite movie is to see on a date or share with a significant other (one entry per person) and leave your e-mail address or a way to contact you if you win.

US only. Giveaway ends June 12th at midnight EST.