Bros Review (TIFF)

PLOT: Bobby Leiber (Billy Eichner) is a gay influencer unlucky in love. At forty, he’s never been in a serious relationship, but things change when he meets Aaron (Luke Macfarlane), a commitment-phobic attorney.

REVIEW: There’s a lot of messing around brothers It is the first major mainstream gay romantic comedy to be released by a major studio with 3000 theatrical releases. Produced by Judd Apatow and co-written (starring Billy Eichner) by Nicolas Stoller (Search for Sarah Marshall), the movie is funny enough that it has real chances of being a hit. The audience at TIFF was consistently let down, proving that Universal could have a significant crowd-pleaser on its hands. Whether it can overcome a market that’s penalized for big-screen comedy is another question, but it has a chance of making a significant impact.

Eichner plays our rom-com hero Bobby, who runs a gay history podcast and is about to open a sprawling LGTBQ museum. While everything seems fine at work, he has to deal with constant arguments in the office, while his occasionally irritable nature sometimes gets him into trouble. Bobby is having a hard time Not to express himself, and when he meets Luke Macfarlane’s Aaron, they seem an unlikely pair. Aaron is everything that Bobby is not and vice versa. Aaron works in the corporate world, is a huge fitness rat, and has macho tastes (he proudly says his favorite movie is the Hangover). Neither man wants to be in a relationship, but strangely they seem a good match despite facing significant obstacles, most notably Bobby’s need for trust and monogamy.

An interesting thing about brothers is that Bobby rants early in the film, explaining how he was once asked to write a gay rom-com that seemed too catered to a straight audience. He pokes fun at the studio head’s suggestion that “love love is love”. Oddly enough, however, the film proves that the manager might be right, as the ultimate love story between the two boys is pretty much universal, regardless of your sexual orientation.

One thing that makes it stand out is that it nearly completely devoid of Schmaltz, and Eichner, who works with Stoller and Apatow, makes sure he works in plenty of outrageous and R-rated bits that had premiere audiences almost rolling in the aisles. The film features perhaps the screen’s first “foursome,” a comic set piece that showcases Eichner’s flair for physical comedy, and his rants are often hilarious. Hell, sometimes they even got this honest critic thinking. That said brothers is anything but preachy, with the ultimate message of loving who you love and being yourself, something I think we can all relate to. The big problem I had with the film is that it might be TOO CLOSE to the formula, with the hurdles the two face that are awfully familiar to anyone who’s watched a rom-com. It also ends with a musical number, which is perhaps the only time the film gets almost corny, but then again, the audience here cheered when it was over, so most viewers probably aren’t as cynical as I am.

The film offers some interesting insights into the gay dating world, mostly stripped down to humor but with a bit of sneaky commentary as well. Bobby is spotted on Grindr dates where the hookup is far from satisfying. Despite being a successful, handsome gay guy, at forty he’s never had a real boyfriend. Meanwhile, Aaron is circumcised by Macfarlane and is often objectified for his looks, but we also see him injecting himself with testosterone to maintain his impossible physique. Even this isn’t considered inherently bad, however, as Bobby later experiments with testosterone to get predictably insane results.

Eichner and Macfarlane’s chemistry groundes the film as much as any well-cast rom-com, and the two play well together. The supporting cast is good too, with Guy Branum’s Henry, Bobby’s BFF stealing every scene he’s in. A gripe many gay viewers have with films aimed at them is that the stories inevitably end in tragedy, and Eichner’s film seeks to remedy that, aiming to make anyone who leaves the film feel good. In that regard brothers is quite a hit, and while you might not think you’re the target audience for a movie like this, I’m pretty sure everyone who sees it will have a blast.

7