DozOnLife
  • Blogs
    • Sports
    • Music
    • TV
    • Movies
    • Advice
    • Everything Else
  • About
  • Contact

"Bros" Was a Funny and Solid Rom-Com but Billy Eichner is Wrong About Why It Flopped at the Box Office

10/4/2022

0 Comments

 
Picture
Image Source
Last night I did something that only a small number of people in this country have; I saw Bros in theaters.

Being a better ally than @lenadunham by seeing Bros instead of watching MNF w/ fantasy implications & I accidentally went into the wrong theater. Sat for a few minutes before realizing I was in Avatar & it wasn’t just a blurry trailer. I was like there’s no way I’m *this* zoot

— Doz #HireDozo (@DozonLife) October 4, 2022
​I saw all the news yesterday about its box office numbers and wanted to see the movie before I give my two cents. 

Everybody knows Ole Dozo is an ally to the LGBTQ+ community. I've been blogging my support since the beginning of DOL in 2016. I call out my friends that still say f@g. It's been an open secret in my circle for years that I don't hate T porn (a trans woman fucking a cis woman is like lesbian porn on steroids). I think it's super fucked up that it's more difficult for queer couples to adopt when kids are stuck in the system; I don't need to go down this path right now, we know I'm a hashtag good guy. I'll get off the soapbox. We're here to talk about a Rom-Com that flopped.

Bros did not do too well in its opening weekend. I've seen many numbers ranging from 4 to 10 million at the box office. Either way, those numbers stink, and understandably the film's leading man and writer, Billy Eichner, didn't love that. As a creator, I get it. I've written hundreds of great blogs that didn't get the respect they deserve because I'm too niche and unknown. If I had cards to play, I'd use them, so again, understandably, Eichner is blaming homophobia for Bros underwhelming performance.

Billy Eichner thinks straight audiences are to blame for 'Bros' doing so badly at the box office, saying not enough of them came out to support a gay romcom. https://t.co/Lz36zqaS0P

— TMZ (@TMZ) October 2, 2022
​I mean, he's not entirely wrong; there are certainly pockets of this country that will never see this movie because it's about gay love. He's definitely behind the eight-ball in that spot. Despite miles of progress during my lifetime, there's still tons of hate towards the queer community, BUTTTTT, it can also be true that the movie-going experience and what sells in this country have radically shifted as well.

In middle and high school, going to the movies with friends happened almost every weekend. I have hundreds of ticket stubs saved from those classics (and some flops too). When I was growing up, there were blockbuster comedies every month. The 2000s were a golden era of hilarity. Changing tastes, limitless streaming options, studios only making superhero movies, and many other factors have altered how people view content. "Cancel culture" and the internet have certainly affected the comedy industry, but it's not the only reason. I could list 25 great comedies that came out before I graduated high school (2010) without blinking an eye, but in the last decade plus, there have been far fewer. I love movies like Horrible Bosses and Bridesmaids that came out while I was in college, but in the last decade, other than Game Night, I have a hard time recalling a great comedy I saw in theaters. Studios just aren't making them anymore.

Studios want to make money, and they know there's a greater risk of a 95-minute comedy flopping than some three-hour nerd fest superhero bull shit. They're not my swag, but those are what sell. You don't need to see a comedy on the big screen. In fact, it's usually better on your couch with some friends and maybe a little reefer. Nowadays, the big screen is for action and special effects.

The following tweets give fair reasons why Bros did not perform well at the box office:

If we’re being frank, 1) rom-coms seldom perform anymore. 2) Billy Eichner is insufferable to watch. 3) it’s not 2004, nobody’s spending $10+ to watch white men unless they’re in a super suit committing war crimes. https://t.co/L44N6loIt0

— hey you there! □□ (@srchengn) October 3, 2022

Bros bombing at the box office is a failure of ego. Billy Eichner is a B-list star, not a leading man, and nobody is going to theatres to watch a random rom com in 2022. For Billy to assume it would be a blockbuster just because he’s gay and ‘funny’ is pure Hollywood narcissism.

— JACQUES (@arcadeyblog) October 3, 2022

billy eichner thinks america doesn’t want to see gay men find love but he is wrong we just don’t want to see billy eichner find love

— am rod (@arod_twit) October 3, 2022

Moonlight and Love, Simon are two gay movies that did well in theaters

Bros is flopping at the box office because Billy Eichner marketed the movie to white men, and hailed his film as being “the first” major studio gay rom com, ignoring BIPOC queer films such as Fire Island https://t.co/pMxCQOpGmB

— Jerrica (@JinkiesJerrica) October 3, 2022

Not Billy Eichner blaming homophobia for the box office failure of “Bros”□ I just feel like nobody in 2022 wants to go see a rom com in theaters during spooky season led by one of the most polarizing gay white men in Hollywood

— Shon! (@gayblackvet) October 3, 2022

Lot of people too eager to dunk on Billy Eichner but the truth is you're never gonna succeed with a film about a podcaster. No one wants that shit

— Joshua (@1stOr3rdPlace) October 3, 2022
​It would be lazy and homophobic to say that gay people don't like sports because that's simply untrue. There are tons of gay sports fans, buuuuut I don't think Billy Eichner would call himself one. That played a role in this flop as well. It's October, bro. If you're not getting dragged to a pumpkin patch, corn maze, or apple orchard, you're probably watching baseball, college football, or the NFL (if not all three) on weekend nights. Billy, you're not just competing against the other movies in theaters right now (other than Smile I couldn't name another one...I guess Avatar 2 since I accidentally saw a few blurry minutes of that, but that's it). Just because someone would rather watch Bills-Ravens on a Sunday afternoon doesn't mean they don't think two men or two women should be barred from marriage.

Maybe this is cliche too, but again it's October. Had this movie been released during Pride Month (June), I'm sure that would've boosted numbies too. For the most part, if you're going to the movies in October, it's likely some seasonal scary shit. I don't have the data in front of me, but I know I saw the Hangover, Pineapple Express, and Bruno in the summer.

Speaking of, Bruno made 138.8 million dollars, according to Wikipedia. It was a gay comedy that starred an actual star in Sasha Baron Cohen. I respect Eichner's decision to have an all-queer cast in Bros, but it came at the cost of star power. Jai Rodriguez from the OG Queer Eye and the football coach from Glee were arguably the most famous people in the movie outside of Eichner (besides a Debra Messing cameo; s/o Rhode Island). Plus, you're Billy Eichner. I loved you as Craig Middlebrooks, and Billy on the Street is funny, but are you a leading man? There's a reason She's Out of My League is Jay Baruchel's only leading role.

Look, Billy, I get your disappointment; I honestly do. I agree that just because something isn't commercially successful doesn't mean it's not good. Tons of great music gets no love, while trash wins awards and gets the streams. Big Bang Theory ran for 12 seasons, while Nathan For You was only on for four. I'll even give you that homophobia deserves a piece of the blame pie, but all the reasons I just listed and others I probably forgot because I'm trying to improve my writing time deserve a slice as well. 

Bros was funny. I was one of three people in the audience last night, and I laughed out loud multiple times, but the way people consume media has changed, and this movie had little to no star power. No doubt people wrote this movie off solely for being a queer movie, but that's a lazy excuse. I wouldn't be shocked to see Bros in the Netflix Top 10 in eight months, but an October release with essentially no star power didn't do you any favors. I'm a woke pussy fascism-hating lib as well, but like MJ said, Republicans buy sneakers too. The ultimatum marketing probably didn't help. All that being said, see Bros, so the homophobes celebrating its failure don't win. It's cute and funny. I'm not a gay dude, but Billy's love interest in the movie is objectively hot. I'll end with this, I agree with this tweet. It's unfair to put the future on an entire sub-genre on Billy Eichner's hairy shoulders.

I get people trying to clown on Bros underperforming but the message studios take away from this is always “we’ll never let another gay person make a film for us” which sucks because the future of gay cinema shouldn’t be riding on a fucking Billy Eichner film but what can you do

— Jane Altoids (@staticbluebat) October 3, 2022
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    October 2024
    September 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Blogs
    • Sports
    • Music
    • TV
    • Movies
    • Advice
    • Everything Else
  • About
  • Contact