Bros – Film Review
by Fran Winston

Directed by: Nicholas Stoller
Starring: Billy Eichner, Luke Macfarlane, Ts Madison, Monica Raymund, Guillermo Díaz, Guy Branum, Amanda Bearse
In cinemas October 28th

This romantic comedy sees writer and star Eichner play podcast and radio host Bobby Lieber who is perpetually single and proud of it. That is until he meets hot lawyer Aaron (Macfarlane) and he starts thinking that maybe a relationship would be nice. But Aaron is into casual hookups rather than anything long-term. As Bobby struggles to open an LGBTQ-themed museum and Aaron gets more and more dissatisfied with his work it becomes obvious that they could be the yin to the other’s yang. Obvious to everyone except them that is.

This follows all the usual rom-com tropes, albeit under an LGBTQ lens. There’s the meet cute, the embarrassing misunderstandings, the break ups the make ups… Basically, it’s formulaic but trying to be radical. Having said all that, it is actually very sweet. Eichner is marmite to a lot of people but he is adorkable here and many people will be able to relate to his romantic awkwardness. And Macfarlane does a great job as the butch but super soft Aaron.

The rest of the cast is mainly populated by well-known LGBTQ names and they all do a good job. There’s also a token appearance from LGBTQ icon Debra Messing from Will & Grace, who feels a bit shoehorned in. There is nothing new here and it’s wonderful to see LGBTQ representation although at times it does try to reinforce the message that this is an LGBTQ comedy. It would have been nice to see them try and somewhat reinvent the wheel but as it stands this is sweet and funny, just not very original.