Bros: Más que amigos

As a man who really struggles with romcoms at the best of times, I was rather nervous about this. Actually, though, it steers clear of some (though not all) of the gay stereotypes and presents us with a genuinely quite funny love story about two forty-somethings who meet in a nightclub. One, "Bobby" (Billy Eichner) is a ordinary looking, gobby podcaster and activist who is trying to raise the money needed for an American National LGBTQ+ museum. The other is "Aaron" (Luke Macfarlane) - a lawyer who spends a fair amount of time on the cross-fit. They wouldn't appear to be the most natural of fits but a series of brief encounters on their opening night coupled with a fair degree of sarcasm and a kiss sets the tone for what happens next. Certainly, anyone who has a Dekkoo subscription will have seen the format before - and often, and this doesn't really vary the theme much. What does make this different is the characters have much more depth. Their relationship is never going to be straightforward and though sometimes delivered via annoyingly angry monologues, the character of "Bobby" makes some fairly profound and well reasoned arguments about the constraints history has imposed on people of differing sexualities over the years. Eichner is effective as a man who uses his sharp and pithy tongue to prove the best form of defence is attack, Macfarlane proves to be far more than the man with the muscle, and the writing from the former and director Nicholas Stoller clearly demonstrates that both men have skin in this particular game. Experience has clearly informed and fuelled this creative process. It can be a bit hit or miss, especially the third quarter when it all becomes a bit contrived, but the ending redeems it rather - if only for the pure schmaltz of the serenade - and I rather enjoyed it. It sure doesn't need a cinema screening, but it is entertainingly provocative at times. The BBFC slide at the top warned of "strong sex". Clearly they have never watched "Theo and Hugo" (2016) because there is nothing at all visual in this that could conceivably cause offence; even the language is comparatively mild.

Billy is no Julia Roberts in "My best friend's wedding". He can't pull off being neurotic yet charming. I struggled during the first 45 minutes wondering if I should turn my TV off or carry on. You only have to see the first five minutes to understand why Luke McFarland's character would ask him to tone it down during a family meeting (with relatives that look nothing like each other). You just can't root for this very annoying leading man, who is skeptical but chooses a restaurant with live dance and songs as a good spot for a family outing. The gag is the music during awkward moments. Funny!

For a movie that keeps making fun of Hallmark movies, they really needed to be more self-aware.

The editing is also really bad. It looks like a Netflix reality where it's painfully obvious that close-ups were part of a different take.

It seems like they came up with sketches or gags first and then they wondered how they could put them all together through a needlessly long story. Most of the artists are overacting as if that would make this funnier.

Luke is decent enough in his performance, but he has been better in other things.

Oy vey, Bobby sure kvetches, pisses and moans endlessly throughout this movie, doesn't he? How can a nice guy like Aaron hook up with such a scold and malcontent? He must have the patience of a saint. But we the viewers are not.

We found a lot of laughs in BROS, and while it was great to see Harvey Fierstein and Debra Messing in the mix, it was, unfortunately, all tempered by Bobby's unpleasantness (he reminded us of an ex-friend who was too much of a pill to be around), and we wanted to bop him over the head with a rock-hard, week-old challah! I sure hope Billy Eichner isn't like this in real life!

I enjoyed Bros in spite of the so-called stereotypical portrayals of the characters in this film - it is a comedy. Those who are gay like myself and found the characters over the top I raise awareness to those comedies (admittedly on the small screen such as Friends and Will And Grace. Both have heterosexual characters and scripting both of which are hyper real and maybe stereotypical.

I found Bros entertaining (and romantic comedies are not up there as a favourite genre) and it managed to touch on some deeper stuff as well. It's a comedy and the sort of comedy like screwball which has elements that are hyper real. I thought it moved along nicely. I found myself having a chuckle more often than not in that very special atmosphere like no other - viewing a film in a dark cinema with a heap of other viewers which to me creates its own unique viewing experience.

My Reviews. - Review Bros

My Rating 6/10

Bros is the latest LGBTQI rom com movie with some amusing moments some interesting brief cameos from Harvey Fierstein as Louis and Debra Messing as herself some eye candy from Luke Macfarlane as Aaron the buff half of this romantic duo . Unfortunately his other half Bobby played by Billy Eichner who co wrote Bros with the Director Nicholas Stoller is one of the most irritating gay characters I've seen on screen in a long while.

It's Billy the character I found annoying not Billy Eichner because the character is far to "woke ". I'm saying that as a mature age gay man that has experienced much of the LGBTQI history that Bobby Leiber constantly refers to preserving in the movie . I'm probably out of synch with terms like Cisgender, Gender Variant, Gender fluid and all the other current correct pronouns .

The plot is understandably simple for a rom-com it revolves Bobby Leiber, a born and bred New Yorker who hosts a queer history podcast called 11th Brick (because as a cis white gay man that's probably the brick he'd have thrown at Stonewall) .

Billy as the director of the first national LGBTQ history museum is raising money for The LGBTQI plus History Museum in New York . His passion is LGBTQI + history and is passionate about the lack of truth in historical characters and what he perceives to be there "gayness" characters like President Abraham Lincoln.

Billy meets his opposite in temperament and physical appearance handsome Aaron and the differences in their interests and social compatibility threaten to end their most important togetherness gift which is they make each other happy.

Bros has been heavily marketed as the first American gay romantic comedy from a major studio featuring an entirely LGBTQ principal cast (though Fire Island (2022) -also an gay romantic comedy from a major studio featuring an LGBTQ principal cast -was released earlier in the same year .

Fire Island did not get a full theatrical release like Bros and in my opinion is a much better movie with more believable characters .

I hope this film succeeds as we do need more LGBTQI movies for our community to relate to unfortunately I was disappointed with this movie as I found there was to much emphasis on political correctness and more joke less woke was needed.

If the Producers are just targeting an LGBTQI plus audience that's ok but I doubt very much that there is much in this movie for a wider audience which is where our stories should be inclusive .

Perhaps it our LGBTQI culture in Australia that's different to America ,perhaps I just missed the point ? But Bros just didn't hit my funny bone at all.