2022 continues to be the year of the queer romantic comedy, and viewers were just treated to a first look at the upcoming Billy Eichner (Difficult People, Billy on the Street) movie ‘Bros’. Universal Pictures dropped the first trailer for the film, and it’s everything we’ve come to expect from Eichner: hilarious, profane, and steeped in cultural specificity. ‘Bros’ stars Eichner as Bobby Leiber, a podcaster who is approached by a movie studio to write a gay romantic comedy with universal (read: straight) appeal.
Bobby immediately balks at the idea of a “straight-friendly” gay romantic comedy, and explains how the dating, relationships, and sex lives of the queer community are fundamentally incompatible with your standard crowd-pleasing romcom tropes. “Am I gonna be in the middle of some high speed chase and then all of a sudden fall in love with Ice Cube? Am I gonna get buttfucked by Jason Momoa while we’re both worrying about a volcano?” Bobby asks an uncomfortable studio executive.
Eichner also unpacks the cultural intricacies of the LGBTQ+ community, such as the in-fighting among different queer-identifying advocates, like Jim Rash’s bisexual character and Dot-Marie Jones’s lesbian. Anyone who’s ever been part of a queer panel/group will definitely recognize the in-group drama. We also see Bobby struggle through his own dating drama, from group sex to Grindr to his inability to commit. But things might change when Bobby meets easy-going dreamboat Aaron (Killjoys‘ Luke Macfarlane).
Eichner makes history as the first openly gay man to co-write and star in a major motion picture. ‘Bros’ also breaks barriers as the first gay romantic comedy made by a major studio, AND the first major studio film with an all openly LGBTQ cast (even in the straight roles). Said cast includes Ts Madison (The Ts Madison Experience), Monica Raymund (Chicago Fire), Guillermo Díaz (Scandal), Guy Branum (The Other Two) and Amanda Bearse (Married …with Children). Bros is directed and co-written by Nicholas Stoller (Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Neighbors) and produced by Judd Apatow.
Bros hits theaters on September 30, 2022.
(image: Universal Pictures)
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