Gay rom-com ‘Bros’ wins over TIFF

Billy Eichner thanks Toronto for ‘letting comedy into a movie festival’

Los Angeles| Billy Eichner’s ‘Bros’ is breaking all kinds of barriers: It’s the first gay rom-com ever made by a major studio, the first with an all openly LGBTQ cast and Eichner is the first openly gay man to ever write and star in a studio movie.

Audiences finally got to see the movie for themselves in Toronto and, judging by the shrieks of laughter throughout the screening, it was a hit.

“I want to thank TIFF for letting a comedy into a movie festival!” Eichner yelled into the audience before the film rolled, making a valid point about the dearth of studio comedies that world premiere at top international film festivals.

Eichner stars in ‘Bros’ as Bobby, a frail museum head who’s down on his luck with the complicated, modern dating world. That is, until he runs into Luke Macfarlane’s Aaron, a buff lawyer who’s the complete opposite of Bobby — but changes everything for him.

Like any rom-com, the two have their own meet-cute that turns into a whirlwind romance. Nicholas Stoller directs the film, which also features Bowen Yang, Jim Rash, Dot-Marie Jones, Harvey Fierstein and more hilarious cast members.

In the Q&A, both Eichner and Macfarlane spoke to the wider significance of ‘Bros’ and what the movie will come to represent for the LGBTQ community.

“I can’t help but think of the journey Aaron goes on, and what I would be, watching this movie if I was 18, 19-years-old,” said Macfarlane.

Eichner added that the LGBTQ national history museum in the film is still very much a fictional concept and “exists in ‘Bros’ before it exists in real life in America”.