BROS (Netflix)

This 2022 movie is new, belatedly, to Netflix in UK. It’s a romcom about two guys who don’t want their lives to be like a gay version of When Harry Met Sally. Bobby (Billy Eichner) is a popular podcaster heading up a team to launch a LGBTQ ‘History Museum’. Aaron (Luke MacFarlane) has an IT job but dreams of being a chocolatier. They become sex-buddies but resist – not for long – becoming a ‘couple’. When they do become a couple things get complicated; why wouldn’t they?

The first half of the movie is a lot like episodes of Will & Grace (and even has Debra Messing in a cameo – as herself); lots of snappy dialogue and . When it stops trying not to be a romcom and becomes a romcom, it climbs out of the shallows and becomes a serious ‘Relationship Movie.’ The sex scenes are pretty hot stuff (hot stuff and pretty); the two leads are attractive and believable; the supporting cast, especially the History Museum boardroom, are a joy.

My favourite gay Netflix series is still Hollywood, which revised Tinseltown history to turn the deeply closeted Rock Hudson into a liberationist pioneer. But Bros is fairly charming, a big improvement on Smiley and Fire Island.