Bros
Ten Second Review: It’s only when you see it, you realise that a gay romcom is perfect, although it will take a few more before it quite reaches the generality needed to hit the note perfectly.
When I heard about Bros I was instantly sold. I have a soft spot for the classic romcom, from the classic nineties ones through to the most generic naughties ones and the Everest that is the Hallmark-esque Christmas film. What I have often felt uncomfortable with is the regular feature of a gay friend whose character is about as shallow as he is often written. Stock phrases that have barely changed since the late nineties and the same tired jokes.
I’m glad to say that Bros is full of that, but when situated in context and written by friends those tired jokes have fresh life and a new perspective. If a bully and your friend make the same joke, it hits very differently. Bros is that friend. If it wants to make a joke about gay men being shallow, let it. If it wants to actually explore hook up culture rather than relegate it to a throwaway punchline, let it. If it’s wants to point out the often ridiculous and equally hilarious infighting within queer communities, let it. Bros is telling its jokes among friends. It comes from a place of love.
It had a lot of work to do. We are very familiar with straight love stories. We are very familiar with broad swathes of straight dating. Bros had to introduce some of the mechanics of gay hook up culture, explain it, then do jokes about it. It’s no easy feat.
As we (hopefully) see more gay romcoms we will (hopefully) see less need for the explanations. For the moment they need to be there and that’s okay, but they serve as reminder that these stories have been missing.
To pick up on a theme of the film, queer stories, queer history and specifically queer love are often those of pain and sorrow. They are important, but there is so much joy to be shared and hopefully more queer romcoms will make space for those stories too.
Bros isn’t perfect, but it had more work to do than most romcoms. I hope you see it.
