The laughs are quite enjoyable in the flawed rom-com Bros

In many ways, Bros looks like the future of mainstream movies. As its marketing has proudly trumpeted, this is one of the first major studio releases to be an LGBTQIA+ romantic comedy while its cast is almost entirely comprised of openly queer performers. I won't lie, considering how often American R-rated comedies (even ones produced as late as five years ago) have prided themselves on transphobic humor, seeing scenes in Bro inhabited by multiple trans characters with varying personalities made my heart smile. Unfortunately, Bros is held back by all too familiar faults in the world of modern comedies, namely poor pacing and flat camerawork. The more things change in terms of on-screen representation, the more comedies produced by Judd Apatow stay the same when it comes to filmmaking.

Bobby Lieber (Billy Eichner) is a podcaster and newly-appointed curator for the forthcoming National LGBTQ+ History Museum. While the protagonist of Bros has a lot to juggle in his life, one thing he isn't handling right now is a committed romantic relationship. Bobby is content to just be single...but then he meets Aaron (Luke Macfarlane). This meathead is just the kind of guy Bobby may occasionally ogle, but can never imagine dating. But then the two start spending more time with each other and, wouldn't you know it, the two begin to hit it off. Both men are hesitant to jump into a prolonged relationship, especially since they're each dealing with so much in their jobs (Bobby has to get $5 million for the museum, while Aaron is stuck in a depressing gig handling dead people's estates) but as they grow closer and closer, Bobby and Aaron may have to do the most daunting thing of all: be vulnerable with and devoted to one another.

Bros fits neatly into the pantheon of R-rated comedies produced by Judd Apatow, most notably a plotline that begins with a heavy emphasis on raunchy material before a third act that's as infatuated with sentimental romanticism as any Nancy Meyers movie. Unfortunately, Bros also carries over fatal flaws from prior projects either produced by Apatow or influenced by his style. Namely, the script for Bros can feel like it's being driven by spur-of-the-moment improvisation, with a lack of dedication to a pre-established cohesive script leading to a bloated runtime. Similarly, the directing and cinematography here isn't anything to write home about, with only two or three gags in the entire runtime getting boosted by a shape visual sensibility. Otherwise, flat renderings of conversations relying heavily on medium shots are the name of the game here.

More exclusive to Bros in terms of faults here is some of Bobby's dialogue. In a New York Times interview about her sitcom Abbott Elementary, Quinta Brunson noted that her goal for the show was to make sure it didn't just sound like people's Twitter feed getting repeated back at them. Unfortunately, that's what some of Bobby's lines about The Hangover, gay cowboys being played by straight actors, and other topics related to queer representation sound like and it gets a bit repetitive. It's extra strange to type this out as a complaint since I agreed with everything Bobby was saying! But what I might nod along to in an academic essay or an editorial column is a bit clumsy to hear spoken aloud as dialogue in a movie. Cinema is a visual medium, and finding a way to reflect the history of queer persecution in striking visual means (like how the ending montage of Bamboozled races through decades of dehumanization of Black people in movies) could've communicated these urgent ideas in more of an engaging manner.

It's a pity this didactic dialogue keeps creeping into Billy Eichner's performance since the actor is otherwise a very solid leading man to anchor the proceedings. His commitment to playing Bobby as a stand-off-ish loner who gradually finds himself won over by a hunky meathead is one of the best parts of Bros. The script (penned by Eichner and Stoller) makes all kinds of meta-references to classic romantic comedies, namely You've Got Mail, but this isn't a cruel mockery of the genre. Eichner inhabits a familiar but sturdy archetype in this genre well and gets you invested in his journey. The familiar but undeniably pleasing third-act wouldn't work as well as it does if you didn't care about Bobby and that investment largely comes about because of Eichner.

Just as pleasing as Eichner's lead performance is the undeniable fact that Bros accomplishes the most important thing of any comedy: it's funny. It'd be cool if the gags came from more sources than just dialogue (like through visual means), but at least the dialogue-heavy laughs here do tickle your funny bone. Especially amusing are the various interactions between Bobby and the fellow curators at the LGBTQ+ museum, which are full of hysterical chaos. Performers like Ts Madison, Jim Rash, and Eve Lindley, among others, get tons of chances to shine in these sequences with the pronounced and unique personalities they've been handed. Cameo appearences from the likes of Bowen Yang and Harvey Fierstein also ensure that some of the most throwaway characters in Bros still manage to make you giggle. Plus, who is going to complain about getting more Harvey Fierstein?!?

Bros is held back by being the next great romantic-comedy by some ham-fisted dialogue and less-polished production details (how does a score composed by Marc Shaiman sound this generic?) I yearn for the day if it ever comes when big-screen comedies can have great cinematography and lots of production value again. Until then, though, Bros still succeeds in delivering plenty of jokes, with many of them coming from a cast stacked with talent. There's also a welcome amount of heart, with the latter element especially apparent in a great finale. We may not be dealing with the next The Shop Around the Corner or The Big Sick in terms of great rom-coms, but Bros still serves as a solid entry in this genre. Plus, giving me the chance to be in a theater and just laugh with strangers again, that's gotta count for something.