Fabulous!
Actor-writer Billy Eichner runs our favourite rom-com tropes through an LGBTQ+ filter. It’s gay, but it’s still a rom-com, so… win?
Bros
Director: Nicholas Stoller • Writer: Billy Eichner, Nicholas Stoller
Starring: Billy Eichner, Luke Macfarlane, Monica Raymund, Guillermo Díaz, Guy Branum, Ts Madison, Jim Rash, Miss Lawrence, Amanda Bearse, Bowen Yang
USA • 1hr 55mins
Opens Hong Kong November 25 • IIB
Grade: B
Writer-television host-comedian-actor Billy Eichner (Billy on the Street, American Horror Story) appears to be taking full advantage of the US$20-odd million he got to make Bros. He’s packed the gay rom-com with as much LGBTQ+ culture theory and lectures as he can manage into a fluffy entertainment, almost as if he’s afraid he’s never going to get another chance. Now, in fairness, he could be right. He’s probably right. We all waited with bated breath, fingers crossed that Black Panther, Crazy Rich Asians, and every film not fronted by a white dude wouldn’t tank at the box office and kill any chance for any other voice to be heard for another decade. It’s not paranoid to note that straight wypipo rom-coms can come in every form of hot garbage and get made over and over and over again. Bros doesn’t have that luxury. So Eichner’s taking his shot, even if that means stretching out a 90-minute movie to a slightly flabby two hours. Call it skinny-fat.
Bros’ quasi-educational tone, in more than a few scenes, clangs with the raison d’être of the rom-com. In the course of pursuing his unlikley romance with a jock type, Eichner’s podcaster and museum curator Bobby Lieber launches into more than a few screeds on LGBTQ+ erasure, discrimination and code switching among other subjects. Are his arguments fair? Yes. Do his points demand addressing? Absolutely. Is Bros the venue for it? Not always. All that said, Bros has its share of laugh out loud moments and a loose, shambling charm that goes down easy – and despite being sold to Amazon works best with a crowd.
Different sexuality, same nonsense
The film is also notable for its 100% LGBTQ+ on-screen cast, quite the opposite of Sean Penn, Annette Bening, Heath Ledger, Robin Williams and Charlize Theron playing gay, and indeed a rare thing even now. But for all its LGBTQ+ behind-the-scenes creative talent, directing duties fell to straight Neighbors and Forgetting Sarah Marshall helmer Nicholas Stoller, and the lack of authentic knowledge behind the camera shows. Stoller’s no slouch, and he clearly knows his way around comedy pacing (the “Hey, what’s up?” thread is brilliant) and pulls perfectly pitched little moments from the cast. But it’s hard not to wonder how a gay director’s choices might have been different – unless that’s the point. Like love is love (more on that in a bit) and comedy is comedy.
We begin with Bobby philosophising-slash-berating the listeners of his radio show/podcast about what is essentially Eichner’s life. Eventually the lecture (see?) rolls around to why Bobby has never written a rom-com and a full breakdown thereof. Next time we see Bobby he’s at a board meeting for the forthcoming LGBTQ+ History Museum and what the closing exhibit should be. The meetings – with lesbian curator Cherry (Dot-Marie Jones) who suggests a giant sculpture of Jodie Foster, Robert (Jim Rash, Community), an aggressive advocate for bi content, peacekeeping trans woman Angela (Ts Madison), and painfully forgiving Wanda (Miss Lawrence) – are a highlight of the film, especially after Bobby suggests an exhibit about Abraham Lincoln’s secret gay life. The “rom” starts when Bobby hits a new club (“Gay clubs are just guys taking their shirts off”) with his buddy Henry (Guy Branum) and meets Aaron Shepard (blandly appealing Hallmark Christmas rom-com king, Luke Macfarlane, Single All the Way). They’re both gun shy about commitment, Aaron really wants to make chocolate, Bobby fears he’s not Aaron’s “type,” they clash over how comfortable they are in their own skins, blah blah blah. It’s a rom-com. Fill in the blanks.
‘Average’ guys
Still ‘average’
Despite Bobby/Eichner’s assertion that love is most definitely not love, and that gay men (he goes out of his way to call out his own cis white gay man status) do not “love” the same way as anyone else, Bros supports the notion that love is indeed love in its own circuitous way. The rom-com clichés are all here: the wacky cast of pals, the best friend in a stable relationship, the specific genre construction and requisite Act 2 conflict/misunderstanding, the Grand Declaration/Gesture. A sprint someplace. And it works just fine with two guys. But also like many rom-coms Bros has its moments, and for all Eichner’s berating there are some pithy gags, starting with Debra Messing getting incensed at her undying Will & Grace persona, a hilarious cameo by Bowen Yang, everyone’s secret gay history, Grindr jokes (admittedly low-hanging fruit), and the series of “Hallheart” holiday movies, which must be a joke at co-star Macfarlane’s good natured expense. The film also comes crashing to Earth on few occasions, when Eichner vocalises some of Bobby’s fears and insecurities, shining a glaring light on just how far LGBTQ+ people are from equality. The film wobbles on its performances – the cast is all LGBTQ+, not all actors – but veracity fills the gap. Bros is a step in the equal direction, but man. It’s still a damn rom-com. — DEK
Bros’ Bros
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