So Bros is finally here after months of many PR’s hyping the movie to Queerguru (and the outside world). To save you worrying where our verdict/review landed, if you scroll to the bottom, you’ll see we gave ut 10/10, a real rarity for us.
So without any spoilers here’s the movie’s plot. Billy Eichner plays Bobby a cynical single podcast jock who is about to embark on a new career as the Director of a new LGBTQ+ Museum. He hasn’t dated for some years and even his hookups on Grindr are less than satisfactory. He has low self-esteem so when he is cruised in a gay club by the bare-chested Aaron (the far too handsome Luke Macfarlane) he reverts to sarcasm rather than sex talk.
They do seem to be an unlikely pair, but as the cliche says, opposites do match, and what follows is one of the most delightful rom-coms we have seen in a very long time.
Eichner who also co-write the script after being approached by Universal a major Hollywood Studio to specifically make a queer comedy. Kudos to both of them for this. It is unique in many ways e.g. it’s about 40-year-olds who f-ck, not a coming-out story about someone fumbling their first kiss, like roughly 90 percent of gay stories onscreen. The screen is packed with gay actors playing gay and straight roles and we are also treated to a wealth of cameo appearances of the likes of Harvey Fierstein, Kenan Thompson, Jai Rodrigeuz, Amy Schumer and Debra Messing. The latter was very funny even though her small role was part of Eichner’s near obsession of the LGBTQ+ community’s history.
A personal favorite appearnace was by Bowen Yang who played a rich gay donor living in Provincetown which also featured highly in the movie. (where I live). For me, it balanced up Yang starring in another delightful hot rom-com this summer in that ‘other gay resort’ Fire Island.
Eichner had co-written (with director Nicholas Stoller) himself a juicy part which he filled so very completely showing that he really can give a finely tuned performance McFarlane was less convincing but then again he brims with charisma so we cannot possibly find fault with him.! However his character Aaron’s measure of internalized homophobia didn’t sit comfortably with either him or the audience.
Despite Eichner filling the Museum Board with people that between them covered the whole, LGBTQ spectrum, the movie itself was still mainly about white cis males. No complaints here, but it does make us reflect on Eichner’s ardent claims that it was a milestone movie in every sense of the word. I will give him and Stoller kudos for ardently dispelling the long-held myths that gay relationships simply mirror those of hetero ones!
This bittersweet and sexy love story was a sheer joy to watch and we cannot recommend it highly enough. I hope that it will not only lead to other follow-ups but also help empower the work of queer indie filmmakers who make equally superb for a tiny fraction of Bros budget
P.S. Its Monday after the film’s Opening Week : call me paranoid but the combined media cannot shout any louder about ‘the disappointing box office results. The universal rave reviews and high Rotton Tomato Ratings are of course nt mentioned If you are gay (or any version of it) then you can be excused for thinking that this is undisguised homophobia. Yes, it stll exists.
Last July when the US had another wave of COVID, more than one national newspaper highlighted “Provincetown” as being a major spreader. Yep, we are all old enough to know that ‘gay plague’ is hardly new. And it is there to be brought out again at any excuse
Go support BROS
Review : Roger Walker-Dack
Editor in Chief : Queerguru
Member of G.A.L.E.C.A. (Gay & Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association) and NLGJA The Association of LGBT
Journalists. and The Online Film Critics Society. Ex Contributung Editor The Gay Uk &Contributor Edge Media
Former CEO and Menswear Designer of Roger Dack Ltd in the UK
one of the hardest-working journalists in the business' Michael Goff of Towleroad
Labels: 2022, Billy Eichner, Bros, Luke MacFarlane, Nicholas Stoller, Rom com, Universal Pictures
