As Gay Rom-Com ‘Bros’ Wins Over TIFF, Billy Eichner Thanks Toronto for ‘Letting a Comedy Into a Movie Festival’

A heartfelt, hilarious classic Hollywood-style romantic comedy, Bros (★★★★☆) doesn’t screw around with the formula of forebears like When Harry Met Sally or You’ve Got Mail. Rather, the movie — produced by Judd Apatow, directed by Nicholas Stoller (Forgetting Sarah Marshall), and co-written by Stoller and star Billy Eichner — delivers fresh takes on tropes that worked for those films, while trafficking in jokes and situations they never touched.With tart dialogue and earnest intent, Bros leans into the romance of the giddy first kiss, and the determined dash across town to declare one’s love right now in front of an audience of awww-ing friends who will dance out the scene in a joyful montage.The filmmakers’ attention to genre detail includes layering Bros with that rare, underrated quality of a good romantic comedy: a believable resistance to romance. To stir the pot, somebody or something has to be standing in the way of happily ever after.Here, the culprits are our lead pair of lovebirds, commitment-shy New Yorkers Bobby (Eichner) and Aaron (Luke Macfarlane), who at least commit to a text-assisted dance of hooking up and sort of dating, after meeting at a club.Their rocky progress towards a climax, or several climaxes, follows a familiar rom-com path, but with both the rom and the com rendered through the specific lens of Bobby and Aaron’s modern gay experience.

Billy Eichner and Luke MacFarlane put on their most colorful suits for the premiere of their movie Bros at the Regal LA Live on Wednesday (September 28) in Los Angeles.

Billy Eichner channeled years of watching those films -- either not seeing himself reflected onscreen or always pushed to the sidelines -- into, the hilarious new R-rated gay rom-com co-written by and starring the former host of . Ahead of its theatrical debut this weekend, ET’s Rachel Smith tested Eichner, who plays Bobby, and his co-star, Luke Macfarlane, who shares the screen as his love interest, Aaron, on just how well they know each other after making the film. So, who is pickier about who they date? “Billy,” Macfarlane says, while Eichner pushes back and says, “[Luke]’ll day anything… He found three guys when we were walking into this bar.” OK, then who has the bigger… A-lister stored in their phone? “I thought you were going to go somewhere totally different with that,” Macfarlane reacts with laughter. “Totally different with that question.” That said, he says that Eichner “definitely” has more stars in his contacts, while making reference to his Emmy-nominated variety series.

Carrie Underwood blocked comedian Billy Eichner on Twitter, and he's still laughing about the snub.In fact, the "Bros" star called it a "great honor."While recounting the spat on "Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen," Billy said Carrie's social media move came during COVID. "There was this thing where she, like, during the height of COVID, she retweeted a speech by some Republican guy [Matt Walsh] and said that kids shouldn't have to wear masks in schools," Billy said.The way the "Billy On The Street" star saw it, Carrie was "letting her political views be known for the first time."Soon after, Billy made several jokes about Carrie and her views, and "she didn't like that," he claimed. "It was one of the great thrills of my life," he said of being blocked by the country superstar.Last year, after realizing he was blocked, Billy tweeted out a screenshot that informed him he's persona non grata on Carrie's Twitter. ICONIC. pic.twitter.com/NBBHLFCpD9"ICONIC," he said at the time. Ryan Grantham, the "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" actor who was convicted last week of killing his own mother, is scared he'll become a victim of abuse in prison because on his slight stature.His lawyer, Chris Johnson, is now arguing that Ryan shouldn't be housed in a maximum security prison, telling TMZ the actor could be "physically, psychologically and sexually intimidated" by hardened criminals. Although Ryan is 24, he has a slim stature, weighing about 100 lbs and standing 5'2".

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter After years of declarations about the death of the romantic comedy, Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum’s recent commercial hit “The Lost City” proved there’s still a place on the big screen for meet-cute stories. Now, comedian and actor Billy Eichner is taking a stab at the feel-good genre with “Bros,” an R-rated romantic comedy that opens in 3,300 North American theaters on Friday. The movie, from Universal Pictures, is aiming to generate $8 million to $10 million in its opening weekend. It’s not a huge number, but the film carries a modest $22 million production budget. “Bros” is debuting in theaters alongside Paramount’s R-rated chiller “Smile,” which is projected to cast a toothy glow over the domestic box office charts with $16 million to $20 million. That’s a stellar result given that it only cost the studio $17 million to make.

Billy Eicher felt some sort of way after being blocked by Carrie Underwood on Twitter.

Billy Eichner revealed that Carrie Underwood blocked him on Twitter, and now the comedian is opening up about how he really feels about the situation — and why he thinks it happened. The 44-year-old actor was a guest on Tuesday's episode of and didn't hold back when asked about the social media mishap.«Carrie Underwood blocked me on Twitter, yeah, which I consider a great honor,» Eichner quipped in response to a viewer's question about it.

Brent Lang Executive Editor “Bros” is another R-rated, envelope-pushing look at a man in a state of arrested development from Nicholas Stoller. It’s the kind of look at male neurosis, usually the kind of mania the pops up a decade shy of mid-life crisis time, that has been the director’s stock in trade in comedies like “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” “Get Him to the Greek” and “Neighbors.” But this film has an important twist. It has an entirely LGBTQ cast and centers on two gay men with serious commitment issues — a stretch for Stoller, who is heterosexual. So he turned to Billy Eichner, who he knew from working together on “Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising” and “Friends From College,” to help him fashion an authentically queer “meet cute.” “Bros,” the culmination of a multi-year writing process that Stoller likens to therapy (“making a movie like this is a lot like ‘Prince of Tides,’ he says). When it debuts on Friday, “Bros” will make history as the first major studio LGBTQ rom-com to open exclusively in theaters.

Billy Eichner’s “Bros” will be making history upon its release as the first R-rated gay rom-com ever made by a major studio, but that historical record certainly won’t include the Middle East. The Universal movie, which hits the U.S. box office on Sept. 30, is set to roll out across most international markets in October and November, but is pre-emptively skipping any kind of release in Middle East markets due to cultural and commercial reasons, sources close to the studio tell Variety. It’s still unclear exactly what markets in the region will be affected, but it’s likely to include Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Kuwait — all of which are notorious for censoring movies over even the slightest hint of LGBTQ themes or content.

Billy Eichner has been open about why online dating isn't for him. After sharing that he's been kicked off the same app, twice, he reveals how the site apologized to him for the mishap. “I’m not only the maker of the first gay rom-com from a major studio, I’ve also been kicked off of Tinder twice,” the 44-year-old  star said during an appearance on Wednesday“I’m like everyone else, I’m just trying to be a normal person meeting people, so I joined Tinder, but then people recognize me. They don’t think it’s me.

Antonio Ferme editor Are we witnessing the start of the “Bros” Cinematic Universe? Billy Eichner stars in the Universal Pictures rom-com as the director of an LGBTQ history museum who falls for a hunky attorney (Luke Macfarlane). After scoring positive reactions at TIFF, Variety was on the movie’s premiere red carpet in New York City Tuesday night to ask if a potential sequel could be in the works. “Billy and I’ve been joking about [the possibilities], I’m not sure what it would be,” Macfarlane told Variety. “The truth is, in any relationship, those early months are the best. And then the reality of life sets in and you got to figure out how you’re going to spend all that time with somebody.”

Billy Eichner and Luke MacFarlane are hitting the red carpet for the premiere of their new movie!

Billy Eichner has his list of deal-breakers. ET spoke to Eichner at the premiere of his new rom-com, , where he shared what he won't put up with in his own dating life.«Oh man, people trying really hard to be funny,» Eichner said was his number one deal-breaker.

Billy Eichner returned with a long-awaited episode of Billy on the Street, and he tapped Paul Rudd for the revival!

EJ Panaligan editor “Bros” co-writer and star Billy Eichner had sincere words to share about his upcoming romantic comedy at the Variety Cover Party at TIFF sponsored by Skyy. “I could have never imagined in a million years that we would have been able to premiere in such a spectacular way,” Eichner said about the buzz behind the film leading up to its release. “Thank you to everyone at Variety, this feature really was the most beautiful, accurate thing that’s ever been written about me.” In a lengthy interview with Variety, Eichner discussed the film’s entirely LGBTQ cast along with the many distinctive ways in which his personal life has influenced the development of the movie’s characters and plot lines. “I’ve worked so hard on it, I care so much about it, and I want it to do well for the sake of the LGBTQ stories getting greenlit,” he told Variety‘s Brent Lang. “So there’s a burden I feel, much as I want to sit here and just talk about how funny the movie is.”

also prides themself on not being emotionally available?”In the R-rated comedy, already being cited for its realistic depictions of gay men having sex, Eichner plays Bobby, a brash, blunt podcaster who spearheads an LGBTQ+ museum and falls for Macfarlane’s Garth Brooks-loving estate lawyer Aaron, who is quite a different representative of the community they both inhabit.“It’s interesting to see, as an actor, how many flaws I can have [with a character] and still get away with making the love story happen,” Macfarlane said, adding that he sometimes pushed back on his character’s rougher edges, thinking they might be too off-putting. “I saw the movie yesterday and I thought, ‘Aaron, you are such a dick!'”Eichner agreed, noting that Bobby and Aaron are “both dicks at various points, but that’s how people are.”Stoller assured Macfarlane he was in good stead: “I remember telling you, the more flawed and real you are, the more the audience is going to root for you for figure out your shit.”Apatow, a veteran of film exploring minefield relationships and stubborn male growth (“Knocked Up,” “This is 40”), commented on the historic nature of “Bros.” “It’s a very special experience, but it starts out with Nick and Billy having this really great idea,” Apatow said.

that at the ‘Don’t Worry Darling’ press conference!” he shouted.Well, no, you didn’t. “Bros” is a pretty singular entry on the film-festival circuit this year – not because it’s about a gay relationship, but because it takes the sensibility of producer Judd Apatow and co-writer and director Stoller – whose previous movies include “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” “Meet Me at the Greek” and “Neighbors” – and applies them to a story that isn’t interested in trying to fit gay characters into the usual straight rom-com template.In fact, it makes fun of the whole idea of doing that in a scene early in the movie, in which Eichner’s character, Bobby, is asked to write a gay rom-com for a studio exec who’s only really interested in an edge-less movie that will show that “love is love is love.”Bobby, spewing pop-culture references and snarky putdowns with almost exactly as much zest as the guy who plays him does, begs to differ, and so does “Bros.” With a cast in which all the LGBTQ characters are played by LGBTQ actors, the film manages to make the point that, as Branum also said in the Q&A, “queer lives are different than straight lives.”The film, Eichner said, started when Stoller (“a straight man, for better or worse”) decided that his next film should be a romantic comedy about a gay couple.

The major studio romcom is back with a flourish, but it took Billy Eichner and Nicholas Stoller to prove the format still works, even if this time it is two gay men who are the ones who  find love against all odds.

TORONTO – Contrary to popular belief, there have been more gay romantic comedy movies than you might think. Many of them were released independently and a few even by the mini-majors (Searchlight, Focus Features, Sony Classics, etc).