Picture this: your gay best friend is a history buff, and all he wants is to open a History Museum – but with a twist. This will be the first LGBTQ+ History Museum, with all the centuries of rewritten history stripped to reveal its truth. Your friend is Bobby Lieber, and you’re in for the ride of your life.
Bros is Billy Eichner’s newest, gayest romp, and it comes at the perfect time. While LGBT Pride Month is in June, many pride festivities are held in the cooler fall months, making the September 30th release of Bros a very timely one. The film stars Eichner in the lead role of Bobby Lieber, a museum curator whose quest is not for love but for LGBTQ+ history being shared with the world. He loves his life and loves being single. A noble cause, until smoking hot lawyer Aaron, played by Luke MacFarlane, upends Bobby’s plans.
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The trailer is jam-packed with LGBTQ+ jokes that are not at the expense of the community and that are extremely humorous and refreshing. We’d expect nothing less from Nicholas Stoller, the man who wrote Forgetting Sarah Marshall – and while there may not be any puppet musicals in Bros, we’re sure it will leave you laughing just as much. It’s not just the jokes that hit home, but the LGBTQ+ culture steeped into every scene. From the music choice in the trailer to the gay nightclub and pride parade, Bros looks like it will deliver not only laughs but on making LGBTQ+ viewers shed happy tears.
A Gay Rom-Com For The Modern Age
Universal Pictures
Bros’ tagline is “A romantic comedy that gives you all the feels,” and the trailer alone makes us believe it will more than deliver on that promise. In the last decade, there have been a number of groundbreaking LGBTQ+ films released – from the ensemble drama Pride to the classic coming-out-story Love, Simon. We see all kinds of films from all perspectives, but what has always been lacking – and what the LGBTQ+ audience desperately wants – are films where gay people are people.
Genre films where gays can go to outer space, visit a fantasy world, sail the open seas… or find love in the same way a straight couple does in any perfectly cheesy rom-com. Bros promises to deliver a hilarious, heartfelt, and honest look into the life of a modern gay man, and we can’t wait to see it!
Hollywood has a long history of making gay men into effeminate clumsy third wheels. It’s time to throw those stereotypes out and bring the true LGBTQ+ experience to theaters. It’s time that gay characters are the stars, get the man of their dreams, and get a happily ever after ending. There have been plenty of female and male gaze rom-coms, but now it is time for a queer gaze film like Bros to shine.
LGBTQ+ Actors Playing Straights?
What really sets Bros apart from other rom-coms and LGBTQ+ films is its commitment to the diversity of its cast. Hollywood has a problem with casting straight characters in gay roles, so Billy Eichner went the opposite route – casting only LGBTQ+ actors in Bros. The star-studded cast is incredible, and the trailer shows just how lively and excited they all are to be there. Harvey Fierstein (Torch Song Trilogy), Luke MacFarlane (Killjoys), Ts Madison (The Ts Madison Experience), Monica Raymund (Lie to Me), and Guillermo Diaz (Scandal) are just a few of many LGBTQ+ actors cast in the film, and we love to see it!
Not only is a cast of LGBTQ+ actors playing every role – including the straight ones – in Bros, but the film is a first in many other ways as well. Billy Eichner is now the first gay man to have co-written and starred in his own major studio film. Bros is also the first major studio film to have an entirely LGBTQ+ cast. Best of all, if Bros makes it to awards season, its actors could become the first LGBTQ+ people nominated in their category and most certainly the first to win in many should they succeed. After Ariana DeBose’s Oscar win this year made her the first openly queer woman of color to win the Best Supporting Actress Award, we hope that Bros will break ground next awards season too!
Casting only LGBTQ+ actors was a deliberate choice on Eichner and co-writer Nicholas Stoller’s part. Hiring an all LGBTQ+ cast for a very gay film only enhances the performances, quality, and appeal of Bros. There have been many straight and cisgender actors who have been nominated – and won! – awards for their roles as LGBTQ+ characters, and this needs to be remedied. With so many talented LGBTQ+ actors in Hollywood today, Bros choosing to cast only LGBTQ+ actors is a phenomenal move. It’s time for a gay rom-com to have center stage, and it’s time for LGBTQ+ actors to take home awards for playing queer characters.
With so much promise in the trailer, we can’t wait for September 30th when Bros hits theatres!
