The rom-com Bros from Universal released its first trailer today. The film is co-written by its main star Billy Eichner and veteran blockbuster comedy director Nicholas Stoller, who is also directing and producing the hilarious-looking film.
Bros is an important, and somewhat surprisingly late, achievement in Hollywood as the very first major studio romantic comedy about gay men. It also features an all-queer cast playing both the queer and heterosexual characters in the film’s script.
It’s great to know that gay actors will have a chance to play straight in this film, as it is much less common than seeing straight actors play gay characters to critical acclaim such as Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger in Brokeback Mountain, or more recently, Timothée Chalamet’s breakout performance as Elio in Call Me By Your Name.
Eichner, who is also known for his web series Billy On The Street and several appearances in recent American Horror Story seasons, has the distinction of being the first openly gay man to write and star in his own major studio film.
In the film, Eichner plays the podcaster Bobby, and the trailer features an entertaining meta scene where Eichner, as Bobby, discusses how fictional movie producers want him to make a gay rom-com that’s “something a straight guy might like.” Eichner goes on a monologue against this idea of sanitizing a gay story for straight audiences, proclaiming hilariously, “Love is love is love? No it’s not! Our friendships our different… Our sex lives are different!”
Eichner is promising “No Hollywood bullsh––,” with Bros, and from the trailer, it seems like he and Stoller have concocted a hilarious flick that may be historic, but is also proudly not compromising for any uncomfortable straight viewer.
The film stars Eichner along with Luke MacFarlane, Bowen Yang, Jim Rash, Guillermo Díaz, Ts Madison, Harvey Fierstein and Guy Branum.
