Billy Eichner joins forces with director Nick Stoller (Forgetting Sarah Marshall) and producer Judd Apatow (This is 40, Trainwreck) for the first queer romantic comedy from a major studio. The cast is made up of openly queer actors who fill the cast in both straight and queer roles in a film that is genuinely funny while still managing to hit all of the rom-com tropes that make these films so incredibly entertaining to watch. While the film failed to find a solid audience at the U.S. box office, it is getting a cinema release here. The story is genuinely funny with plenty of laughs in the style of Trainwreck that combines with Billy Eichner’s unique brand of humour and a genre that has been reinvigorated this year thanks to films like Marry Me, Ticket to Paradise and The Lost City. Bros gives us an insight into modern queer dating with some incredibly gifted comedians and actors, delivering 2022’s best comedy.
Bobby Lieber (Billy Eichner) is a single guy living in New York City, trying to find fulfilment in a world full of Grindr hookups and one-night stands. One night at a club, he locks eyes with Aaron (Luke MacFarlane), a muscle jock who is really into group sex. Bobby is a talker, a successful podcaster, a children’s author and the head of an upcoming LGBTQ History Museum. Aaron is a successful lawyer, addicted to Cross Fit and is just starting to come into his queerness with his family and on a journey of self-discovery. The two are just as emotionally unavailable as the other and as they navigate what their lives could possibly be like together, this is all mixed in with some hilarious sex scenes and a supporting cast of LGTQ’s greatest performers like Jim Rash, Harvey Fierstein, Jai Rodriguez and Miss Lawrence make Bros an incredibly funny and heart-warming film.
Eichner serves as co-writer (with Stoller) and his personal brand of humour is well on display here. Bobby is a mile-a-minute talker, very comfortable in the queer community and accepting of who he is and how he fits into the world. By contrast, Aaron is quiet, a successful lawyer who feels like there is more to life than what he has right now. MacFarlane is the perfect vehicle for this character. Apart from the physical aspect of the role that he fills out, his emotional distance and addiction to his ritual of going to parties, hooking up with multiple guys and the times he is a support for Bobby make up the sweet part of the film’s story.
The first 40 minutes of this movie packs some serious laughs, the majority of the great jokes (particularly if you are part of the Queer community) shoot out the screen at such a rapid pace; it is a testament to the talented writing of Stoller and Eichner who should work together again in the future. This is well-balanced by the sweet moments in the film, one in particular at the Beach where Bobby is describing his past and the journey he has gone through while the stress of the museum opening starts to take hold. Bobby is quite worked up and Aaron grabs him a beer and kisses him as a sign of affection which immediately calms Bobby down. It’s this kind of sweetness mixed with the in-your-face sex scenes that are a great reflection of modern queer dating and hook-up culture.
There is a large part of this film that educates viewers about LGBTQ history. It is never done in a preachy way or anything that feels too in your face. There are a few montages of pioneers that paved the way for this movie to exist is an extremely harrowing and touching moment that doesn’t take away from the central story.
Bros feels like a giant warm hug to the Queer community, a hilarious and touching film that perfectly captures this moment in history when queer love stories can finally be told in a mainstream setting. Billy Eichner and Luke MacFarlane are the perfect on-screen couple to drive this love story through its many highs. Let’s hope this movie is an entry point for many more love stories from the Queer community that are as happy and full of love and hope as this one is.
Bros is in Australian cinemas October 27.
