Billy Eichner Says Historic ‘Bros’ Scratches the Rom-Com Itch That’s Been Missing for Many Fans
Fans who miss seeing smart, sophisticated rom-com movies in theaters are in luck when Bros, starring Billy Eichner hits the big screen.
Bros is a romantic comedy about a young gay couple that follows the traditional rom-com story arc of boy meets boy and everything that happens along the way. The film is heartfelt and hilarious – all the makings of beloved rom-coms like When Harry Met Sally and Pretty Woman. Eichner noted the historic significance of the film, making it the first LGBTQ comedy of it’s kind. But he also realized that the beloved rom-com, in general, has been noticeably missing for quite some time.
Billy Eichner notes that rom-com’s like ‘Bros’ disappeared
When Eichner joined forces with filmmakers Judd Apatow and Nick Stoller, he reflected on how moviegoers haven’t seen a solid rom-com in the theater in many years. “We just said what happened to great comedies that make people laugh out loud consistently for an hour and 45 minutes?” Eichner asked on the Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend podcast. “But also move you, and are feel good movies?”
“That genre of movie has disappeared,” he said. “I grew up with all these great romantic comedies, as did Nick and as did Judd. They’re straight, I’m gay but we bonded over our love for movies like Moonstruck, and When Harry Met Sally. And Working Girl and Broadcast News. And Tootsie.”
‘Bros’ is both historic and a throwback
“They stopped making those movies about straight people!” Eichner remarked. “Forget gay people. They don’t make that kind of sophisticated, really funny, smart, moving film about straight people anymore. They’ve never made them about gay people.”
“So in a way, Bros, while being historic and very new, it happens to be about a gay couple. It’s also a throwback to those types of romantic comedies, which they simply do not make,” he added. “And when I watch an audience watch Bros, that experience they’re having, and on top of it, it’s also unlike anything a lot of people have ever seen because of the LGTBQ of it all. But also just realizing, oh wow, it’s so fun to go to a movie theater and be swept away by the movie like that.”
Why haven’t good rom-coms been made for theaters?
Billy Eichner may be striking a chord with the audience because Bros will definitely to fill a longtime rom-com void. So why did the rom-com tap dry up in Hollywood in the first place? Actor Colin Egglesfield who starred in the rom-com Something Borrowed alongside Kate Hudson, Ginnifer Goodwin, and John Krasinski told Showbiz Cheat Sheet it all comes down to money.
“I think it’s a combination of the perfect storm of Netflix coming out, people building better and nicer home theater systems,” Egglesfield explained. “And the number of people going to movie theaters started to go down right around when Netflix really started to take off.”
“There were so many amazing shows,” he continued. “TV series that were starting to film like on HBO. And obviously Netflix and Cinemax and Showtime. A lot of the A-list actors who were movie stars started to do television. And [producers] just couldn’t justify putting up the kind of money of what it cost to make Something Borrowed or like even like a Pretty Woman or a How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days.”
Adding, “Those films that are like a $30 million film,” he said. “So that’s the films in between that $10 million to $100 million range just kind of evaporated overnight because the return at the box office just isn’t what it used to be.”
