Bros

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The Reel Review

A

Billy Eichner and Luke Macfarlane star in this gay rom-com about a couple of relationship-averse guys who find themselves stumbling into a seemingly unlikely relationship after meeting at a nightclub. The film is the first LGBTQ+ rom-com featuring an all-gay primary cast to be released by a major studio (Universal) in theaters.

Eichner and co-writer/director Nicolas Stoller (Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Get Him to the Greek) manage to achieve the rare feat of giving their audience the predictable rom-com format, while also upending it with lots of unexpected moments, authenticity and hysterically raunchy humor. Bros is filled with laugh out loud moments and isn’t afraid to poke fun at itself as well as many gay stereotypes, while also respectfully tipping its hat to pioneers in LGBTQ history. Eichner and particularly Macfarlane are convincing as the unlikely couple.

Some of the funniest moments in Bros involve a hysterical Debra Messing playing a fictionalized version of herself, a couple of super awkward four-ways, and some clever jabs at the commodification of queer culture via some hysterical fake Hallmark Channel Christmas movie titles. The only weakness in Stoller’s direction is in the continuity of a handful of scenes, which look jarringly pieced together from multiple takes. But Bros more than makes up for that with a clever, funny story with lots of heart.

REEL FACTS

• Bros is the third collaboration between Billy Eichner and Nicholas Stoller after the 2016 comedy Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising and the 2017 Netflix comedy series Friends from College.

• Bros is the first time that Debra Messing has played a fictionalized version of herself.

• Julliard grad Luke Macfarlane is no stranger to Hallmark Christmas films. He has starred in 2015’s Christmas Land, 2016’s The Mistletoe Promise, 2017’s Karen Kingsbury’s Maggie’s Christmas Miracle and 2020’s Chateau Christmas. He also appeared in Netflix’s first LGBTQ+ Christmas movie, Single All The Way.