Bros | September 30, 2022 | Universal

[grim22]

1 minute ago, ChipDerby said:

Homophobia definitely had an effect on the low opening. But so did it being a romcom, being starred by billy eichner, and having no big star opposite him.

 

Trainwreck is the other half of this coin. ALSO had a non-star as its lead, BUT it had a known star comedian opposite, had a huge costar in Lebron, and it was for straight people.

Also, Trainwreck was released in 2015 when people still went to the movies just to go to the movies. The pandemic accelerated the relegation of some genres to streaming.

[Eric Atreides]

11 minutes ago, Torontofan said:

 

I think there are a lot of people who are a bit moderate or conservative but not like anti-gay who would watch a funny movie with gay characters. (However, you have a habit of seeing people as one dimensional)

 

But when a director says "if you are not a liberal who is a gay ally, don't watch this"

Well, a lot of people be like...I just wanted to watch a movie not get lectured 

 

So i find a lot of creators in Hollywood are shooting themselves in the foot saying if you don't watch their movie you racist, homophobe...It just turns even more people turned off from watching their film. 

Okay

[Cappoedameron]

Billy Eichner is just an insufferable prick and has one brand of funny and it's yelling at people on the street.

 

If the movie starred someone like Dan Levy people would show up in droves because he's hilarious.

 

I don't think it had anything to do with it being a LGBT film, it had to do with it starring a comedic actor that isn't funny.

[LonePirate]

49 minutes ago, Cappoedameron said:

I don't think it had anything to do with it being a LGBT film, it had to do with it starring a comedic actor that isn't funny.

Except the overwhelming majority of the movie going public has no idea who Eichner is so they don’t know if he is funny or not. Pretty much every positive film review has said the film is funny. Some of the negative reviews have said so as well. Evidently people aren’t reading reviews, either.

[Torontofan]

4 hours ago, grim22 said:

Also, Trainwreck was released in 2015 when people still went to the movies just to go to the movies. The pandemic accelerated the relegation of some genres to streaming.

2015 is also when Amy Schumer was liked and popular

 

 

[ringedmortality]

31 minutes ago, Torontofan said:

2015 is also when Amy Schumer was liked and popular

 

 

2015 there were already people saying she was unfunny. I’d say that was already people’s perception of her, although she did have her defenders.

 

But she was definitely having a moment.

[ChipDerby]

4 hours ago, Cappoedameron said:

Billy Eichner is just an insufferable prick and has one brand of funny and it's yelling at people on the street.

 

If the movie starred someone like Dan Levy people would show up in droves because he's hilarious.

 

I don't think it had anything to do with it being a LGBT film, it had to do with it starring a comedic actor that isn't funny.

 

idk, I still don't think Dan Levy is mainstream enough to anchor a movie like this. But hey, maybe he will be the first "big gay movie star™". Right now he's probably still below NPH on that ranking.

[Torontofan]

1 hour ago, ringedmortality said:

2015 there were already people saying she was unfunny. I’d say that was already people’s perception of her, although she did have her defenders.

 

But she was definitely having a moment.

 

I mean compared to now she is likely the most unpopular famous comedian right now lol 

[filmlover]

Pretty good interview with the director and one of the producers about why the movie made so little (in particular they blame a bad marketing campaign by Universal that likely alienated certain demos and also mention Eichner's "streaming" comments that made the rounds weeks ago).

 

 

‘Bros’ Director, Producer Open Up About “Confusing” Opening Weekend and the Fierce Debate It Sparked https://t.co/kKR7bZ4Fh2

— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) October 8, 2022

[ringedmortality]

Wow Stoller was incredibly nervous what with all the (Laughs)

[cannastop]

I'm going to see this in theaters today, because who knows how long it will stay in theaters.

[Napoleon]

Saw it last night, it's pretty good and I recommend every LGBTQ member to go see it. I, too, was rolling my eyes at the way they were treating this like an important movie for representation when it didn't feel like something new, but after watching it I get it. The movie has a deeper meaning than just being a gay rom com. It was touching, funny and Billy Eichner is surprisingly brilliant as the lead, he is charming and you really care about the character. 

[Cruel Summer]

4 hours ago, Napoleon said:

Saw it last night, it's pretty good and I recommend every LGBTQ member to go see it.

no thank you

[cannastop]

This movie is great and Harvey Fierstein is right that the marketing is bad for it.

[Krissykins]

Just got back from a preview here and it was hysterical. 
 

One particular joke had the four of us crying laughing way after the joke landed, hilarious. 

 

a 5/5 from me. 

[AJG]

Already online. Universal strikes again.

[Kalo]

So I saw this movie late at night at a theater completely by myself. I mean like I was the only person in the theater I think and really enjoyed it, it was really funny and I could relate alot to alot of the things here like Grindr dating like I think I literally experienced most of those scenarios and it was kind of touching too, not the best movie ever made and maybe little too "political" for it's own good.  party for my taste. but overall very solid movie.

 

But the marketing for this film sucked. 

 

the trailers were way too explicitly gay for most mainstream heterosexual audience. and saying this was the first ever mainstream "gay film starring gay actors but for mainstream audiences was like saying it was the first African american lead film to featuring  black girl eating chips."

 

Like The Birdcage came out over 20 years ago and made OVER $100m in the 90s! like seriously. 

 

People are tired of "first ever" they don't mean anything anymore. and it is losing it's marketability. also this is a Rom-Com which is (Sadly) already a struggling genre. and has no stars in the film. which could have helped this movie ALOT. I don't really get the argument that gay actors have to play gay characters, I have nothing against that. but it would be pretty sexy to see Chris Evans and Henry Cavil make out in a movie., if they wanted this movie to make money that's what they needed. heck that would turn some straight guys on I think. 

 

Billy Eichner is a decent enough actor don't get me wrong, and mildly good-looking even, but he isn't a hunk and doesn't have the Charism or star power to carry a film financially. And Luke Macfarlane is well pretty charming actually and cute as fuck, but nobody knows who the heck he is. 

 

Also blaming people for being homophobic is really low saying that your movie bombed, if you can't even get your "Super important" gay film to make $5m on opening weekend than a lot of gays didn't see it either, I'm not saying homophobia wasn't a factor, but it certainly wasn't the only one.

 

Edited October 19, 2022 by Kalo

[filmlover]

I saw this in a theater last weekend and thought it was really funny. Doesn't deserve to have the negative reputation it's already developed all because of the public blame game that occurred when it didn't live up financially to its media made hype.

[Krissykins]

I did notice when I was looking for interviews on YouTube there are a lot of videos saying “Bros FLOP” and “Bros BOMBED”, “WOKE movie FLOPS” with cartoons of Billy with fake tears? And they have 50-200k views? 
 

AltRight YouTube are talking about it more than everyone else. There’s certainly a bit of homophobia at play. 

Edited October 19, 2022 by Krissykins

[MikeQ]

I hate to say this, but I feel pretty mixed about this film. On the one hand, the "com" side of this is quite good at times - threading queer jokes nicely within the narrative.

 

On the other hand, the "rom" side is pretty lackluster, as far as romcoms go. The first rule of romcoms is that the characters need to be likeable, and for me, Billy Eichner's character of Bobby is not. Indeed, when the central conflict occurs, I found myself feeling more for Aaron than I did Bobby - even though the film clearly centres Bobby as the one who was wronged (and even though, intellectually, I knew where Bobby was coming from). The characterization of Bobby also isn't consistent, as he remains pretty infatuated with the very things he rails against.

 

The film also reinforces what it is trying to critique. For a film that touts its queerness, "first ever" this and that, etc, it often felt focused on appealing to straight audiences, and lacking in the queer bona fides needed to appeal to a wide range of queer audiences.

 

There are moments in the film I liked, but overall: it's a disappointment for me. Maybe if there weren't already many great queer romantic stories being told through film and television, I wouldn't be so hard on this.

 

Peace,

Mike