During its opening weekend, director Nicholas Stoller’s ‘Bros’ received an underwhelming response based on the early box office numbers.
The gay rom-com, starring Billy Eichner and Luke Macfarlane, is competing against writer and filmmaker Parker Finn’s horror movie entitled ‘Smile.’ ‘Bros’ opened in fourth place, earning $4.8 million.
Numbers aside, Eichner expressed on Twitter that he is “VERY proud” of the romantic comedy movie that he co-wrote and starred in saying,
“Last night I snuck in and sat in the back of a sold out theater playing BROS in LA. The audience howled with laughter start to finish, burst into applause at the end, and some were wiping away tears as they walked out. It was truly magical. Really. I am VERY proud of this movie.”
He continued on by mentioning the acknowledgements received by ‘Bros’:
“Rolling Stone already has BROS on the list of the best comedies of the 21st century. What’s also true is that at one point a theater chain called Universal and said they were pulling the trailer because of the gay content. (Uni convinced them not to). America, fuck yeah, etc etc.”
“That’s just the world we live in, unfortunately. Even with glowing reviews, great Rotten Tomatoes scores, an A CinemaScore etc, straight people, especially in certain parts of the country, just didn’t show up for Bros. And that’s disappointing but it is what it is,” the 44-year-old actor and comedian stated, expressing his disappointment on the ticket sales despite the movie receiving a great response from critics and audiences.
Eichner then concluded on a positive note, and of course, not forgetting to promote the film writing,
“Everyone who ISN’T a homophobic weirdo should go see BROS tonight! You will have a blast! And it *is* special and uniquely powerful to see this particular story on a big screen, esp for queer folks who don’t get this opportunity often. I love this movie so much. GO BROS!!!”
‘Bros’ is now showing in 3,350 theaters.
Source: cinemablend.com
The strident lead continually sermonizing about gay acceptance (and his back story’s painful episodes) made this a very tedious film to watch. The dinner scene with the disagreement between Eichner’s character and Amanda Bearse’s typifies Eichner’s stridence: it was the first time he’s meeting his boyfriend’s mother, and he chooses to continue to argue well past both points were made multiple times. It’s also worth pointing out that his example (stage production with naked men) happened when he was a child of 12. She is a second grade teacher, meaning her students are 8. Why couldn’t the disagreement be comparing “apples with apples”? This is emblematic of too many (political and social) disagreements: both sides pushing their agenda without listening to the other side. Really cringe-worthy. Was that Eichner’s point? I sincerely hope not.
The movie’s characters were more characterizations (and stereotypes) than “real” characters: one-dimensional with one-track commentary from all.
All this plus a formulaic script made this a movie I will not see twice. Even Luke Macfarlane couldn’t save it, nor could the cameos. Disappointing.
I personally find Billy funny, but it seems a lot of people would have seen it if he wasn’t in it at least that’s what it seems like from the comments on several gay sites. I still hope big studios make gay movies even though it didn’t do as well at the box office. It’s also a weird month to put it out it seems.
October is not the month for this movie to be released and Universals should have spent more time doing some marketing that didn’t just say ‘historic’ but had ‘funny’ and made more references to Stoller’s other movies and Apitow. But based on the business something like Love, Simon, it’s not just that Eichner is not a lead who can get butt into seats (since no one on that movie was known besides the actors playing Simon’s parents – and no one was going to that movie for them), but that even gay people weren’t interested in going to a theater to see this.
I was at a 7 PM showing on Friday, which was near sold old (this being a theater in Hollywood, in LA), mostly a male audience and they definitely laughed, but Billy is not a leading man and he should have swallowed his pride and, instead of writing that part for him, written it differently let them cast say Chris’ brother, Scott, Andrew Rannalls, or if they really wanted to sell the comedy, Jack Plotnick or any number of other people that don’t come with built-in detractors.
The movie is fantastic. A real home run, hitting all the right notes. Definitely worth seeing, and probably twice to appreciate all the jokes and nuances.
What a cry baby. His tweet about going to the theater sounds Trumpy.