‘Bros,’ the first big-stud R-rated gay rom-, is for everyone - The Washgton Post

Contents:

• ‘BROS,’ THE FIRST BIG-STUD R-RATED GAY ROM-, IS FOR EVERYONE
• COMMENTARY: THE REAL LSON OF ‘BROS’: IT’S OK TO LET GAY ART BOMB
• WHY DID ‘BROS’ BOMB AT THE BOX OFFICE? FOR STARTERS, IT’S A ROM-COM‘MISFIRED’THE BILLY EICHNER-LED EDY’S $4.8 LN OPENG IS “A HEAD-SCRATCHER,” ONE ANALYST SAYS, BUT ROM-S HAVE STGGLED FOR YEARS.ADAM MANNOENTERTAMENT REPORTERPUBLISHED OCT. 06, 2022 4:44AM EDT PHOTO ILLTRATN BY THOMAS LEVSON/THE DAILY BEAST/UNIVERSAL PICTUR/GETTYBILLY EICHNER’S UNIVERSAL-BACKED GAY ROM- BROS MA A MEAGER $4.8 LN AT THE BOX OFFICE S OPENG WEEKEND, FALLG SHORT OF DTRY PROJECTNS AND S OWN STAR’S EXPECTATNS.“EVEN WH GLOWG REVIEWS, GREAT ROTTEN TOMATO SR, AN A CEMASRE ETC, STRAIGHT PEOPLE, PECIALLY CERTA PARTS OF THE UNTRY, JT DIDN’T SHOW UP FOR BROS. AND THAT’S DISAPPOTG BUT IS WHAT IS,” EICHNER TWEETED ON SUNDAY. “THAT’S JT THE WORLD WE LIVE , UNFORTUNATELY.”BUT WHILE HOMOPHOBIA LIKELY DID STOP SOME MOVIEGOERS OM TREKKG TO THE THEATER FOR WHAT WAS REPEATEDLY MARKETED AS “THE FIRST GAY ROMANTIC EDY TO PREMIERE BY A MAJOR STUD,” BOX OFFICE ANALYSTS TELL THE DAILY BEAST THAT THE FULL PICTURE IS MORE PLITED. CG FACTORS LIKE THE FILM’S R RATG, WANG DIENCE TERT ROM-S, AND A LACK OF INTIFIABLE STAR POWER, EXPERTS SAY THERE WAS JT TOO MUCH STACKED AGAST BROS TO BEG WH. THE MOVIE’S WEEKEND BOX OFFICE NUMBERS—EVEN WHEN PARED TO S RELATIVELY MOST $22 LN BUDGET—ARE NOHELS UNEXPECTED. “THERE WERE SIGNS LEADG TO THE RELEASE THAT WOULD UNRPERFORM AT SOME LEVEL, BUT TO THAT EXTENT, NOT QUE,” SHAWN ROBBS, CHIEF ANALYST AT BOXOFFICE PRO, SAYS.“IT’S SORT OF A HEAD-SCRATCHER,” PL DERGARABEDIAN, SENR MEDIA ANALYST AT COMSRE, AGRE. THE REALY IS, ROMANTIC EDI HAVE FACED CLG SUCCS THEATERS SCE THEIR HEYDAY THE ’90S AND EARLY 2000S. OF THE TOP 10 HIGHT GROSSG ROM-S OF ALL TIME, ONLY ONE WAS RELEASED THE PAST : 2018’S CRAZY RICH ASIANS. EVEN THIS YEAR’S MARRY ME, BUOYED BY ONE OF THE PATRON SATS OF ROM-S, JENNIFER LOPEZ, MA JT $22.4 LN AT THE BOX OFFICE AND $8 LN S OPENG WEEKEND.BROS WAS PRODUCED BY JUDD APATOW, THE EDY KGMAKER WHO HIMSELF HAS HAD TROUBLE RECREATG THE SUCCS OF SOME OF HIS BIGGT MID-REER MOVI.“ROM-S HAD THEIR HEYDAY AND THEY ULDN’T MISS. IF YOU HAD A EDY WH A GREAT NCEPT, PEOPLE WOULD FLOCK TO THE MOVIE THEATER TO SEE . OVER TIME, WH AN ATTEMPT TO PALIZE ON THE GENRE’S POPULARY, THE QUALY SUFFERED,” DERGARABEDIAN SAYS. “ROM-S HAD THEIR HEYDAY AND THEY ULDN’T MISS. ... OVER TIME, WH AN ATTEMPT TO PALIZE ON THE GENRE’S POPULARY, THE QUALY SUFFERED.” BROS’ R RATG ONLY POUNDS MATTERS.“IF WE LOOK AT ROM-S AS A WHOLE, ’S BEEN A GENRE WHERE ’S BEEN REALLY TOUGH TO FD AN R-RATED EXAMPLE THAT WORKS ON A BOX OFFICE-WI LEVEL,” DANIEL LORIA OF BOXOFFICE PRO SAYS.RECENT EXAMPL OF SUCCSFUL R-RATED ROM-S AREN’T VERY RECENT AT ALL. WEDDG CRASHERS, WHICH IS LIGHT ON THE ROMANCE AND HEAVY ON THE GRATUO BREASTS, ROPED OVER $200 LN AT THE DOMTIC BOX OFFICE BACK 2005. THAT SAME YEAR, APATOW’S THE 40-YEAR-OLD VIRG TOOK HOME $109.5 LN AT THE BOX OFFICE. TRAWRECK, ANOTHER R-RATED APATOW EXPANSN TO PROTAGONISTS THAT AREN’T STRAIGHT WHE MEN, PULLED $110.2 LN 2015.“IF TOGETHER THE ONLY EXAMPLE WE N E UP WH ME OUT SEVEN YEARS AGO… A LOT OF THGS HAVE CHANGED THAT TERIM, AND ’S A SUATN WHERE THE GENRE’S HAD STGGL,” LORIA SAYS. ALSO OF NOTE, ROM-S ARE UALLY TARGETED AT WOMEN, AND BROS, A MOVIE ABOUT GAY MEN WH A HANDFUL OF SUPPORTG FEMALE CHARACTERS WH FEW L, MAY NOT HAVE APPEALED ENOUGH TO THIS KEY MOGRAPHIC.THERE’S ALSO THE FILM’S NOTICEABLE LACK OF STAR POWER. EICHNER, WHO PLAYS THE PROTAGONIST, IS MOST KNOWN AS A POLARIZG EDIAN, WHILE HIS LOVE TERT, PLAYED BY LE MACFARLANE, IS A RELATIVELY UNKNOWN ACTOR OUTSI THE HALLMARK CHRISTMAS MOVIE UNIVERSE. BOTH LORIA AND DERGARABEDIAN POT TO THE LOST CY, A PG-13 ACTN-ADVENTURE EDY WH A ROMANTIC ELEMENT THAT RELIED ON BANKABLE A-LIST STARS LIKE SANDRA BULLOCK AND CHANNG TATUM TO DRAW DIENC. IT WORKED—THE FILM PROVED TO BE A RARE H THIS SPRG WHEN RAKED OVER $30 LN S OPENG WEEKEND ALONE FOR A TOTAL DOMTIC GROSS OF $105.3 LN.DERGARABEDIAN ULTIMATELY BELIEV BROS WOULD HAVE BENEFED OM A DAY-AND-DATE RELEASE THEATERS AND ON UNIVERSAL’S STREAMG SERVICE PEACK, A TACTIC THAT PROVED SUCCSFUL FOR MARRY ME. ANTHONY ALLEN RAMOS, VP OF MUNITNS AND TALENT AT LGBTQ MEDIA WATCHDOG GLAAD, SEEMS TO AGREE. “BROS WILL ULTIMATELY BE ACCSIBLE ON A STREAMG SERVICE THE NEAR FUTURE, AND THE PEOPLE WHO CID NOT TO GO TO THE MOVIE THEATERS WILL HAVE AN OPPORTUNY TO SEE A FILM THAT IS ABSOLUTELY A BREAKTHROUGH WHEN TO LGBTQ REPRENTATN THE ROMANTIC EDY GENRE,” RAMOS TOLD THE DAILY BEAST A STATEMENT.ALL OF THE ANALYSTS NTACTED FOR THIS STORY AGREE THAT ’S HARD TO MONDAY MORNG QUARTERBACK A FILM BASED ON S WEEKEND BOX OFFICE. AND THE FACT THAT PEOPLE DIDN’T TURN OUT FOR BROS DON’T MEAN THEY WON’T SHOW UP FOR OTHER GAY MOVI BY MAJOR STUDS THE FUTURE.“WE REALLY HAVE TO FACE THE REALY THAT HOMOPHOBIA IS A FACTOR WH SOME DIENC,” ROBBS SAYS. “TO BE PLETELY FAIR, NOT ALL LGBTQ DIENC SHOWED UP, EHER. IT’S THAT LOW OF AN OPENG THAT DON’T REPRENT ONE SGLE ELEMENT. THERE WERE SEVERAL THGS THAT JT MISFIRED HERE.” ADAM MANNO

‘BROS,’ THE FIRST BIG-STUD R-RATED GAY ROM-, IS FOR EVERYONE

Eichner strsed the importance of this film’s equiy an terview wh Variety, sayg, “It’s about showg people, ’s great that a straight actor n w an Osr for playg gay, but look how funny and hilar and warm and lightful LGBTQ actors n be a wi variety of rol that we don’t normally get to play. There’s a lot happeng Bobby’s life, begng wh his recent refal to wre a rom- about a gay uple.

In the trailer, he appears to turn down an offer om a major Hollywood pany as he don’t believe he’s the right f to wre a gay rom- that appeals to “straight people. Dpe Bobby’s apprehensn about lovg someone whom he scrib as a “gay Tom Brady, ” looks like romance uld be the air, even though both men have stggled wh mment. There have been gay rom-s the past, but Bros is the first to be released by a major Hollywood stud.

COMMENTARY: THE REAL LSON OF ‘BROS’: IT’S OK TO LET GAY ART BOMB

“Bros, ” which has been hotly anticipated as the first big-stud R-rated gay rom-, fely has universal appeal, if your universe happens to clu anyone navigatg the vagari of love, lt and generatnal change. But like any succsful edy — or movie, for that matter — “Bros” succeeds s specificy: this se, gay life and culture that are brimmg wh foibl, ntradictns, triumphs and failur jt wag to be med for ic gold. He plays Bobby Leiber, a cynil New York podster whose expertise is hidn gay histori and whose latt project is openg a mm dited to same.

No sooner is he liverg an impassned stemwr on “the erasure of gay love over centuri” than he’s cuttg to his daily life on Grdr, where the banal “Hey, what’s up? “I support them, but I don’t tst them, ” he says of his fellow gay men at one pot.

One of Bobby’s funnit observatns is the untapped market for an app aimed at gay men “who jt want to talk actrs and go to sleep.

WHY DID ‘BROS’ BOMB AT THE BOX OFFICE? FOR STARTERS, IT’S A ROM-COM‘MISFIRED’THE BILLY EICHNER-LED EDY’S $4.8 LN OPENG IS “A HEAD-SCRATCHER,” ONE ANALYST SAYS, BUT ROM-S HAVE STGGLED FOR YEARS.ADAM MANNOENTERTAMENT REPORTERPUBLISHED OCT. 06, 2022 4:44AM EDT PHOTO ILLTRATN BY THOMAS LEVSON/THE DAILY BEAST/UNIVERSAL PICTUR/GETTYBILLY EICHNER’S UNIVERSAL-BACKED GAY ROM- BROS MA A MEAGER $4.8 LN AT THE BOX OFFICE S OPENG WEEKEND, FALLG SHORT OF DTRY PROJECTNS AND S OWN STAR’S EXPECTATNS.“EVEN WH GLOWG REVIEWS, GREAT ROTTEN TOMATO SR, AN A CEMASRE ETC, STRAIGHT PEOPLE, PECIALLY CERTA PARTS OF THE UNTRY, JT DIDN’T SHOW UP FOR BROS. AND THAT’S DISAPPOTG BUT IS WHAT IS,” EICHNER TWEETED ON SUNDAY. “THAT’S JT THE WORLD WE LIVE , UNFORTUNATELY.”BUT WHILE HOMOPHOBIA LIKELY DID STOP SOME MOVIEGOERS OM TREKKG TO THE THEATER FOR WHAT WAS REPEATEDLY MARKETED AS “THE FIRST GAY ROMANTIC EDY TO PREMIERE BY A MAJOR STUD,” BOX OFFICE ANALYSTS TELL THE DAILY BEAST THAT THE FULL PICTURE IS MORE PLITED. CG FACTORS LIKE THE FILM’S R RATG, WANG DIENCE TERT ROM-S, AND A LACK OF INTIFIABLE STAR POWER, EXPERTS SAY THERE WAS JT TOO MUCH STACKED AGAST BROS TO BEG WH. THE MOVIE’S WEEKEND BOX OFFICE NUMBERS—EVEN WHEN PARED TO S RELATIVELY MOST $22 LN BUDGET—ARE NOHELS UNEXPECTED. “THERE WERE SIGNS LEADG TO THE RELEASE THAT WOULD UNRPERFORM AT SOME LEVEL, BUT TO THAT EXTENT, NOT QUE,” SHAWN ROBBS, CHIEF ANALYST AT BOXOFFICE PRO, SAYS.“IT’S SORT OF A HEAD-SCRATCHER,” PL DERGARABEDIAN, SENR MEDIA ANALYST AT COMSRE, AGRE. THE REALY IS, ROMANTIC EDI HAVE FACED CLG SUCCS THEATERS SCE THEIR HEYDAY THE ’90S AND EARLY 2000S. OF THE TOP 10 HIGHT GROSSG ROM-S OF ALL TIME, ONLY ONE WAS RELEASED THE PAST : 2018’S CRAZY RICH ASIANS. EVEN THIS YEAR’S MARRY ME, BUOYED BY ONE OF THE PATRON SATS OF ROM-S, JENNIFER LOPEZ, MA JT $22.4 LN AT THE BOX OFFICE AND $8 LN S OPENG WEEKEND.BROS WAS PRODUCED BY JUDD APATOW, THE EDY KGMAKER WHO HIMSELF HAS HAD TROUBLE RECREATG THE SUCCS OF SOME OF HIS BIGGT MID-REER MOVI.“ROM-S HAD THEIR HEYDAY AND THEY ULDN’T MISS. IF YOU HAD A EDY WH A GREAT NCEPT, PEOPLE WOULD FLOCK TO THE MOVIE THEATER TO SEE . OVER TIME, WH AN ATTEMPT TO PALIZE ON THE GENRE’S POPULARY, THE QUALY SUFFERED,” DERGARABEDIAN SAYS. “ROM-S HAD THEIR HEYDAY AND THEY ULDN’T MISS. ... OVER TIME, WH AN ATTEMPT TO PALIZE ON THE GENRE’S POPULARY, THE QUALY SUFFERED.” BROS’ R RATG ONLY POUNDS MATTERS.“IF WE LOOK AT ROM-S AS A WHOLE, ’S BEEN A GENRE WHERE ’S BEEN REALLY TOUGH TO FD AN R-RATED EXAMPLE THAT WORKS ON A BOX OFFICE-WI LEVEL,” DANIEL LORIA OF BOXOFFICE PRO SAYS.RECENT EXAMPL OF SUCCSFUL R-RATED ROM-S AREN’T VERY RECENT AT ALL. WEDDG CRASHERS, WHICH IS LIGHT ON THE ROMANCE AND HEAVY ON THE GRATUO BREASTS, ROPED OVER $200 LN AT THE DOMTIC BOX OFFICE BACK 2005. THAT SAME YEAR, APATOW’S THE 40-YEAR-OLD VIRG TOOK HOME $109.5 LN AT THE BOX OFFICE. TRAWRECK, ANOTHER R-RATED APATOW EXPANSN TO PROTAGONISTS THAT AREN’T STRAIGHT WHE MEN, PULLED $110.2 LN 2015.“IF TOGETHER THE ONLY EXAMPLE WE N E UP WH ME OUT SEVEN YEARS AGO… A LOT OF THGS HAVE CHANGED THAT TERIM, AND ’S A SUATN WHERE THE GENRE’S HAD STGGL,” LORIA SAYS. ALSO OF NOTE, ROM-S ARE UALLY TARGETED AT WOMEN, AND BROS, A MOVIE ABOUT GAY MEN WH A HANDFUL OF SUPPORTG FEMALE CHARACTERS WH FEW L, MAY NOT HAVE APPEALED ENOUGH TO THIS KEY MOGRAPHIC.THERE’S ALSO THE FILM’S NOTICEABLE LACK OF STAR POWER. EICHNER, WHO PLAYS THE PROTAGONIST, IS MOST KNOWN AS A POLARIZG EDIAN, WHILE HIS LOVE TERT, PLAYED BY LE MACFARLANE, IS A RELATIVELY UNKNOWN ACTOR OUTSI THE HALLMARK CHRISTMAS MOVIE UNIVERSE. BOTH LORIA AND DERGARABEDIAN POT TO THE LOST CY, A PG-13 ACTN-ADVENTURE EDY WH A ROMANTIC ELEMENT THAT RELIED ON BANKABLE A-LIST STARS LIKE SANDRA BULLOCK AND CHANNG TATUM TO DRAW DIENC. IT WORKED—THE FILM PROVED TO BE A RARE H THIS SPRG WHEN RAKED OVER $30 LN S OPENG WEEKEND ALONE FOR A TOTAL DOMTIC GROSS OF $105.3 LN.DERGARABEDIAN ULTIMATELY BELIEV BROS WOULD HAVE BENEFED OM A DAY-AND-DATE RELEASE THEATERS AND ON UNIVERSAL’S STREAMG SERVICE PEACK, A TACTIC THAT PROVED SUCCSFUL FOR MARRY ME. ANTHONY ALLEN RAMOS, VP OF MUNITNS AND TALENT AT LGBTQ MEDIA WATCHDOG GLAAD, SEEMS TO AGREE. “BROS WILL ULTIMATELY BE ACCSIBLE ON A STREAMG SERVICE THE NEAR FUTURE, AND THE PEOPLE WHO CID NOT TO GO TO THE MOVIE THEATERS WILL HAVE AN OPPORTUNY TO SEE A FILM THAT IS ABSOLUTELY A BREAKTHROUGH WHEN TO LGBTQ REPRENTATN THE ROMANTIC EDY GENRE,” RAMOS TOLD THE DAILY BEAST A STATEMENT.ALL OF THE ANALYSTS NTACTED FOR THIS STORY AGREE THAT ’S HARD TO MONDAY MORNG QUARTERBACK A FILM BASED ON S WEEKEND BOX OFFICE. AND THE FACT THAT PEOPLE DIDN’T TURN OUT FOR BROS DON’T MEAN THEY WON’T SHOW UP FOR OTHER GAY MOVI BY MAJOR STUDS THE FUTURE.“WE REALLY HAVE TO FACE THE REALY THAT HOMOPHOBIA IS A FACTOR WH SOME DIENC,” ROBBS SAYS. “TO BE PLETELY FAIR, NOT ALL LGBTQ DIENC SHOWED UP, EHER. IT’S THAT LOW OF AN OPENG THAT DON’T REPRENT ONE SGLE ELEMENT. THERE WERE SEVERAL THGS THAT JT MISFIRED HERE.” ADAM MANNO

Whereas Apatow’s past films have clud their share of lame homophobic humor, here he lends his expertise to icky sight gags volvg masturbatn and one of the most hilar group sex scen possibly ever mted to s -jok, badage-y dialogue and pacey edg, “Bros” mak for a breezy sendup of everythg om the earnt excs of inty polics — one of Bobby’s mm board members wants a display like the blue whale at the Mm of Natural History “except ’s a lbian” — to throupl and the rentments of agg boomers and Gen Xers toward their lennial lleagu. To paraphrase an early episo of Law & Orr, Bros didn’t fail at the box office bee was a gay theatril live-actn rom-.