Bros review

BROS: 

YOU WILL FALL IN LOVE WITH THESE “BROS” AND THEY WILL MAKE YOU LAUGH! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

UNIVERSAL PICTURES

Billy Eichner and Luke Macfarlane in Bros

 

            Director, Nicholas Stoller (Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Get Him to the Greek, Neighbors 1 and 2) brings quite possibly the most game-changing romantic comedy of all time to the screen in his new film, Bros. The film is written, executive produced by, and starring Billy Eichner (Billy on the Street, Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising, The Lion King(2019)) and is the first gay romantic comedy featuring a mostly LGBTQ+ cast to get a wide release by a major studio. 

            Naturally, there was a lot of buzz surrounding this film when it was announced and rightfully so. This wasn’t another one of those films where they just hire straight actors to portray gay characters, this was going to be the real f*cking deal! 

            I’m not one to speak for the gay community because I’m not part of it, though I very much support it. From what I hear, they seem to really enjoy it, but despite being well-received by both critics and audiences, not many people are flocking to see it, but that’s a discussion for another time. 

            I won’t be going into detail about why Bros is bombing at the box-office nor will I try to sum up what LGBTQ+ people think of it. Instead, I will be judging this as a film…and as a film, I really enjoyed it (And this is coming from someone who is not a huge fan of romantic comedies!). 

            Do I think it’s one of the greatest comedies of all time? Not really. Does it hit a lot of familiar romantic comedy tropes we’ve seen a million times before? Sure. But I found it to be an incredibly funny and very charming comedy that I think a person of any sexuality could watch and get some laughs out of. 

            The film follows Bobby Lieber (Eichner), a successful podcast host who has subjected himself to a lifetime of empty relationships. However, that changes when he meets an estate attorney named Aaron (Luke Macfarlane-Kinsey, Satisfaction, Killjoys) who is pretty much Bobby’s polar opposite in just about every way. 

            The two of them start to hit it off, get to know one another, spend a lot of time together until the unthinkable happens where these two opposites fall in love. 

            The film also stars Ts Madison (Zola, RuPaul’s Drag Race) as Angela, Monica Raymund (Lie to Me, The Good Wife, Chicago Fire) as Tina, Guillermo Diaz (Half Baked, 200 Cigarettes, Scandal) as Edgar, Guy Branum (X-Play, No Strings Attached) as Henry, Amanda Bearse (Fright Night, Married with Children) as Anne Shepard, Jim Rash (Community, The Descendants, The Way, Way Back) as Robert, Harvey Fierstein (Cheers, Mrs. Doubtfire, Independence Day) as Lewis, Symone (RuPaul’s Drag Race) as Marty, Jai Rodriguez (The New Guy, The Producers(2005), Malibu Country) as Jason Shepard, and Dot-Marie Jones (Patch Adams, The Boondock Saints, Weird: The Al Yankovic Story) as Cherry. 

            Overall, Bros probably won’t win everyone over, but for those who decide to give it a watch will be greeted by an uproarious and touching comedy elevated by the charm of its leads. I’m not super familiar with Billy Eichner or Luke Macfarlane’s work, but they are excellent in this film, and I totally buy them as a couple. 

            I enjoy the comedic banter they have and both actors do a great job at being funny while also selling the dramatic moments as well. Billy Eichner does deliver some of the funniest lines, but there is an element of sadness and loneliness to his character which helps audiences connect with him and adds a sense of realism and relatability. 

            Luke Macfarlane is a bit more of a blank slate compared to Billy Eichner’s role, but throughout the course of the film, his character becomes a lot more interesting and as previously mentioned, has great chemistry with Eichner. Even the side characters make an impression despite being in smaller roles, especially the people Eicher’s character works with on his LGBTQ+ Museum board. 

            The script is very witty with a lot of great jokes, though at times it does feel like it relies too heavily on pop-culture references. I’m not advising this, but if you want to play a drinking game, take a shot every time a character mentions a movie or character from a movie, I’ll drop off some flowers at your funeral. 

            While I enjoyed this movie a lot, it isn’t a perfect film, this is a nearly 2-hour romantic comedy and while I was never bored by anything, I felt you could have cut about 15 minutes of the film out and it would have been paced better. Basically, the same critique a lot of people have when it comes to films by Judd Apatow (Knocked Up, Trainwreck, The King of Staten Island) who also happens to be a producer on this. 

            I’m also not the biggest fan of the last act as it relies on a lot of rom-com clichés, misunderstanding leading to a break-up when you know they’re just going to fall back in love at the end. I wouldn’t mind that so much, but the rest of the film felt like it was trying to veer away from romantic comedy tropes and this final act was added in at the last minute. 

            Despite those flaws, the laughs, drama, and performances by the cast are more than enough for me to excuse them. Bros is a funny and sweet comedy that celebrates love between people of all ages, races, and sexualities with a lot of food for thought.