For all its modern twists, Bros is, in essence, a classic, cozy rom-com, sure to keep you warm this fall season. Two people who think they can’t fall in love do. It goes wrong, and then it goes right again. The Classic Critic was invited to a preview screening of Bros, and here are our thoughts.

Bros follows Bobby (played by Billy Eichner) a cynical podcaster who is satisfied with his single life. Bobby bumps into estate lawyer Aaron (played by Luke Macfarlane) at a party hosted by a mutual friend. He initially believes Aaron is nothing more than a pretty face—until an intriguing conversation between the two leaves him wanting to know more.

Bros is an unabashed celebration of gay culture, from pride parades in Provincetown to celebrity cameos from the likes of the Fab Five and Debra Messing. “Love is not love,” Bobby insists throughout the movie, his take on the popular “love is love” slogan. For queer teenagers, this is an unconventional sentiment, but it’s one that resounds deeply. Rather than flatten the complexities of queer love, contorting it to fit heteronormative standards, Bros dedicates itself to portraying the queer experience, warts and all. Director Nicholas Stoller and co-writer Billy Eichner depict the unique affliction of being proud of who you are while carrying the baggage of growing up in a less accepting time. Bobby and Aaron learn to shed the exoskeletons they’ve grown as protection against an inhospitable environment. For Bobby, it’s his need for total self-reliance. For Aaron, it’s his hypermasculine jock persona.  

Bros is the first mainstream, explicitly gay movie by an openly gay writer to be released from a prominent Hollywood studio. It also boasts an almost entirely queer cast. Eichner and Macfarlane provide a genuine feel to their characters. 

The film lampshades its own use of rom-com tropes (by, for example, spoofing Hallmark Christmas movies), but it still abides by a very typical rom-com format. Likewise, though Bobby jokes plenty about his privilege as a white cisgender gay man, Bros does little to rectify the issue of representation within the queer community. It puts all of its focus on its two white male leads, never fleshing out its much more diverse supporting cast. 

Bobby, alongside his podcasting job, is the head curator for an LGBTQ history  museum, the first in the nation; the bulk of the movie’s comedy stems from this subplot. Bobby’s fellow curators are a colorful, albeit one-dimensional, bunch, who bicker with each other in the language of pop culture references and queer community in-jokes. The script is witty and fast-paced, worthy of its two-hour length. 

Bros stays a light romp even as it tackles heavier topics like homophobia. The movie’s third act climax involves heartfelt confessions by means of chocolatiering and an affectionate Garth Brooks parody. It seems that straightforward rom-coms have gone out of fashion in recent years, but all things considered, Bros does a pretty good job at being just that.

 Rating: 7/10 (Note: Rated R)