‘Bros’ Movie: ‘Homophobic Weirdos’ Don’t Explain the Failure of the Film

You can almost feel sorry for Billy Eichner. Best known for Funny or Die’s Billy on the Street, a comedy game show where he harangues random people with a microphone, he is now haranguing moviegoing audiences for not seeing his new gay rom-com in theaters. Universal’s Bros was supposed to be a game-changer, the first big-tent theatrical gay comedy in film history! Aggressively marketed as “a gay movie for straights,” it has turned out to attract neither gays nor straights, with a meager $4.8 million opening weekend.

Naturally, in Eichner’s world, it’s all the straights’ fault. The actor took to Twitter to denounce the “homophobic weirdos” who, mysteriously, weren’t compelled to seek out a cinema where they could watch him put Luke Macfarlane’s entire fist in his mouth on the big screen. (Still kinkier action was lost in the edits, we are told.) Meanwhile, critical reviews from the few writers he hasn’t bribed for puff pieces are spelling out the obvious: Gay or straight, one does not simply drop a starless, Judd Apatow-produced rom-com in spooky season, in theaters, in 2022, and expect it to be a hit.

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Bethel McGrew

Bethel McGrew is a widely published essayist and social critic.

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You can almost feel sorry for Billy Eichner. Best known for Funny or Die’s Billy on the Street, a comedy game show where he harangues random people with a microphone, he is now haranguing moviegoing audiences for not seeing his new gay rom-com in theaters. Universal’s Bros was supposed to be a game-changer, the first big-tent theatrical gay comedy in film history! Aggressively marketed as “a gay movie for straights,” it has turned out to attract neither gays nor straights, with a meager $4.8 million opening weekend.

Naturally, in Eichner’s world, it’s all the straights’ fault. The actor took to Twitter to denounce the “homophobic weirdos” who, mysteriously, weren’t compelled to seek out a cinema where they could watch him put Luke Macfarlane’s entire fist in his mouth on the big screen. (Still kinkier action was lost in the edits, we are told.) Meanwhile, critical reviews from the few writers he hasn’t bribed for puff pieces are spelling out the obvious: Gay or straight, one does not simply drop a starless, Judd Apatow-produced rom-com in spooky season, in theaters, in 2022, and expect it to be a hit.