This is not a story of boy-meets-girl — this is a story of boy-meets-bro. Bros is a romantic comedy starring Billy Eichner and Luke Macfarlane as two polar opposite men who begin a relationship together. This film is the first gay romantic comedy from a major studio with a principal cast of LGBTQ+ actors. With the theatrically released rom-com dying out in recent years, this is a victorious return to the genre, offering some of the loudest laughs and heartfelt love stories we have seen from Hollywood in a long time.
Eichner does away with the gay best friend of rom-coms past and depicts a gay relationship with loving passion. As co-writer of the film, Eichner brings a lot of his voice into the character he portrays. The protagonist is Bobby Lieber, a podcaster and museum curator who’s out and proud. He uses his platform to comment on the LGBTQ+ community humorously and is helping plan a museum about their history. As he works on all of this, he meets a macho lawyer named Aaron and the two begin an unlikely relationship. This is all handled to near perfection with a script that lands on every level.
This movie is funny — that’s all a comedy should do. Luckily, Bros delivers on the belly laughs with an excellently written screenplay and lots of humorous direction from Nicholas Stoller. The humor in this film works so well due to the fantastic comedic timing from Eichner and his co-stars. It offers a detailed, uniquely hilarious representation of gay men while jabbing at the differences between sections of the LGBTQ+ community. Bros never fails to provide some of the year’s biggest laughs, including a surprisingly well-timed Maroon 5 joke.
It’s a superb comedy, but is it a good romantic comedy? Affirmative. This is a beautiful romance story told in the funniest way possible. The chemistry between the two leads should not make sense, but it does. It offers some of the best sex scenes ever put to screen, plus you get a feel for how these two complement each other — even if they are not perfect. Eichner and Macfarlane are magic together, and the rest of the cast is hilarious in their roles. The supporting cast is excellent, making nearly every character easy to like.
The biggest drawback to the rom-com is the structure and how most follow a formula. If you have seen any romantic comedy of the early 2000s, you know what will generally happen in this film because it’s a very familiar love story. However, Bros works due to its amusing humor and lighthearted exploration of LGBTQ+ individuals. However, the film knows when to pull back, with one scene where Eichner’s character delivers a sad monologue about growing up gay and how people perceive him. His character may strike a chord with many young people figuring out their sexual orientation, and it’s a pleasure to see gay people represented on screen in this way.
While the movie is very much about gay people, Bobby and Aaron are two complex, flawed characters. They have qualities that everyone can relate to, and at its core, this is a story about a romantic relationship. Relationships are unique, messy, and painful at times, but they can be beautiful, necessary, and phenomenal in all the right ways. Bros is one of the best romantic comedies of the decade, offering plenty of laughs and maybe even a few tears by the end of it.
SCORE: 9/10
As ComingSoon’s review policy explains, a score of 9 equates to “Excellent.” Entertainment that reaches this level is at the top of its type. The gold standard that every creator aims to reach.