BROS movie review

BROS is directed by Nicholas Stoller. The film stars Luke Macfarlane, Bowen Yang, Harvey Fierstein, Ts Madison, Monica Raymund, Guillermo Díaz, Guy Branum, Amanda Bearse, and Jim Rash.

Bobby Lieber is an outspoken gay man who hosts a podcast and works for a museum setting up an LGBTQ+ exhibit. He finds himself strangely fascinated and eventually falls for the much more macho Aaron, a probate lawyer facing his own self-doubts. Will both let down their barriers of “not looking for a relationship” or will the hurdles in their respective lives prevent their love from working?

No one loves a good comedy more than I do. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have my doubts about BROS; representation in film is always a good thing, but I was afraid the film might come off overly preachy regarding its subject matter and characters. While the movie can’t quite escape certain rom-com cliches, the end result pleasantly surprised me. It’s simultaneously profound and laugh-out-loud funny. I can’t speak for whether this film fully accurately depicts LGTBQ+ culture, but one thing that can’t be denied is that it’s one of the funniest films of 2022.

BROS’ cast of characters, particularly its two leading men, is surprisingly three-dimensional and well developed. Comedies are always a delicate balancing act between characterizations and laughs, and those laughs have to be earned. BROS doesn’t take the low road and go for cheap humor, instead utilizing one of the wittiest comedic scripts in years. That this can be combined with two well-developed leads speaks for itself. The movie offers relatable characters as well as hilarious situations that must be seen to be believed. There’s plenty of meta-style humor about films with “straight men playing gays,” and ironically, one of BROS’ biggest advantage is it’s not held back by this, so the jokes don’t feel out of place.

Furthermore, BROS never feels like an episodic collection of skits or sketches. There’s actually a story here, and it’s surprisingly relatable and well put together. Our heroes’ careers and difficult family lives will hit close to home, whether you’re part of the LGBTQ+ community or not. You shouldn’t reject this movie on the basis of its cast and/or subject matter. If you’re fan of comedies in general, you’ll find stuff to like here.

There are a handful of cliches that work against an otherwise fantastic comedy, however. These include the movie following a conventional rom-com structure with elements viewers will see coming if they’ve ever watched any rom-com ever made (you can pretty much guess where the plot will go and how things will end). It doesn’t stop the film from being insanely funny, however.

BROS is hilarious, and the shortcomings are minimal. Its razor-sharp script is hilarious, and the relatable leads largely sell the movie. Any fan of comedies should give this one a shot; once the laughs start, they don’t stop. Highly recommended!