Billy Eichner is loud and fuzzy and very, very gay, and if you haven’t ever seen his madcap game show Billy on the Street, it might behoove you to check it out. It’s certainly a better prelude to his new film Bros than his movie-elevating turn as beloved and irascible meerkat Timon in the otherwise pointless "live action" remake of The Lion King from a few years back, and its playful and imaginative militancy is a fun vibe to spend some time in. The same goes for his ahead-of-its-time Hulu epic Difficult People (which also features national treasures Julie Klausner, Cole Escola and Gabourey Sidibe).
Bobby Lieber (Eichner) is a focused and successful podcaster and media figure currently working on the board of New York City’s first LGBTQ+ Museum of History and Culture. He is a good friend, sexually free, and absolutely convinced that he doesn’t need traditional forms of love, despite secretly soaking in "Hallheart" Christmas movies (personal fave: their new holiday bisexual epic Christmas With Either) and romantic comedies. And when his friend Henry (Guy Branum, in the Parker Posey role) introduces him to estate lawyer/jock Aaron (Luke MacFarlane) at the club, sparks don’t necessarily fly, but there’s something in the air and it isn’t just the remix of Mariah Carey’s “Heartbreaker” by Gomi and "Bonzai" Jim Caruso (though sadly not the Hard Club variant, which is exponentially superior). This may not be love, but it’s something.
There’s a lot going on here. Tonally, there’s some rough going at first, because — and it feels like studio notes — there’s a lot of basic information about gay history being offered. To queer audiences, this is old hat, but it does feel like special effort is being made to offer some comfy steps into the story for heterosexual viewers. This approach actually sets up the film’s later shift into actual complex emotions, and it works — there’s a lot of debate about the "first" this and that as regards LGBTQ cinema, but Bros makes a point of emphasizing actual feelings in a way that feels like new territory.
That said, this is an R-rated film, and one that does not aim to desexualize its characters. Shrimpin’, poppers and the kind of sexual freedom that makes the church-industrial complex quake in fear all make appearances (as does a steroids subplot that feels very left-field, especially considering that no one mentions PrEP in the film, which is a drug-related issue of wide purview in the community). In fact, despite the frankness with which the film addresses hookup culture and open relationships, we’re still ultimately going to end up in a combination of elements that aren’t too challenging.
Bros
This is a movie that delivers smart laughs alongside razor-sharp queer sincerity, and you don’t tend to get a lot of that — art that is deeply concerned with validating emotions and addressing some of the issues that we tend not to discuss in non-queer spaces rarely gets any play on the big screen outside of tragic drama showcases for straight actors. So pay attention, and you just may pick up on something somebody dear and queer to you has been trying to scream out loud for years. Remember when Love, Simon came out and the general critical consensus was that it was fine and cute and would hopefully be unnecessary when future queer romances were widespread? Yeah. That. There’s a lot riding on this film.
Bros is a comedy that loves gay sex and character actresses in equal, abundant measure. Branum and Ts Madison (Zola, TV’s Turnt Out With Ts Madison) are MVPs of the supporting cast, and Eichner and MacFarlane are a winning and charming couple, even as they have to get through their own minefield of misunderstandings, because this is a rom-com and some tropes are obligatory. But I like the assortment of emotions this film is serving up. And maybe it can help bridge some schisms. But if it fulfills the expectations of a romantic comedy without being boring or ludicrous (it is neither), then that’s an enjoyable success.
