By: Lana K. Wilson-Combs
"Bros," the gay, romantic comedy co-written and directed by
Nicholas Stoller (TV's "Platonic") and Billy Eichner (TV's "Dickinson"), is being hailed as the first Hollywood movie featuring two gay men, with an all-LGBTQ+ cast playing both gay and straight roles.
The dramedy is also filled with self-aggrandizing, preachy propaganda and muted, racial references which honestly, I found offensive, and it kept me from enjoying the movie.
"Bros" is about two guys named Bobby Leiber (Eichner) and Aaron Shepard (Luke Macfarlene, "Platonic") who meet cute and eventually fall in love. While the story builds around that, the movie digs in deep about how the gay and trans communities have been marginalized. To help right some of these wrongs, Bobby suggests, among other things, young kids should be taught "gay history" in school. That message, and others, is hammered home so often in one scene that it is way more annoying than funny.
Speaking of annoying, Bobby (Eichner) is such a babbling, hot mess, I can't imagine anyone wanting to date him, gay or straight.
In "Bros" Bobby plays a podcaster who is enthusiastic about gay history. So, he is thrilled when he lands a plum job as the director of a LGBTQ+ museum in New York and is going to write a romantic comedy about a gay couple. While meeting with his diverse board members, Bobby discovers they all want to have their identifies recognized front and center, especially Robert (Jim Rash, "The Way, Way Back") who is very outspoken about bisexual people.
While Bobby's career is taking off, his love life isn't. He hooks up with guys he doesn't really like and has so much emotional baggage, it's weighing him down and making him miserable. Then he goes to a club with his friend Henry (Guy Branum, TV's "Q-Force") and talks about how dumb the people at the club are. Bobby changes his tune, when he locks in on Aaron (Macfarlane), a hunky jock who makes his way over to him, but clearly isn't all that into him. Aaron keeps darting in and out and mingling among the crowd whenever Bobby starts carrying on a conversation.
Both guys, realize they have commitment issues. They eventually work through them and begin to see each other and enjoy each other's company. Things get messy and then they don't. Aaron and Bobby attempt to make their relationship work. It takes some doing especially after Aaron invites Bobby to have dinner with his parents. It doesn't go so well.
There are some familiar faces that appear in "Bros" like Debra Messing who is equally agitated when Bobby starts telling her his personal business. Bowen Yang ("Fire Island") is a wealthy entrepreneur who Bobby is trying to convince to help fund the museum project. Kenan Thompson turns up briefly as a hologram of James Baldwin along with Amy Schumer as Eleanor Roosevelt.
In the end, of course, love prevails for Bobby and Aaron.
Despite its very suggestive and graphic male sex scenes, it's puzzling that "Bros" is rated R and "Blonde," the new Marilyn Monroe movie on Netflix was slapped with an NC-17 rating.
"Bros" is being touted as a groundbreaking movie. That's a stretch. It's a sign of the times for sure, but really, it's the same song, just different dance partners. "Bros" is as formulaic and predictable as most other rom coms, but it's not nearly as funny.
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Look At This Trailer For
"BROS"
Lana K. Wilson-Combs is a member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA), The American Film Institute (AFI), and a Nominating Committee Voting Member for the NAACP Image Awards.
