'Bros' premieres in Palm Springs with big laughs, moment to reflect on Hollywood progress

Within the first few minutes of watching "Bros," the first romantic comedy from a major studio about two gay men falling in love, the crowd at the Palm Springs Cultural Center knew it was in for a treat.

Perhaps the festive mood could be credited to star and co-writer Billy Eichner's ridiculous antics in the film. He plays Bobby, a proud single man who pokes fun at gay dating culture, like the painfully awkward situations one can find themselves in when using the Grindr app, which made the audience laugh. Or the even more wild scenes once Bobby begins to fall for Aaron (Luke Macfarlane), and their first date ends with some company. There also several hilarious cameos throughout the movie (we won't spoil the surprises) that elicited a few rounds of applause from moviegoers.

But, more poignantly, it was a celebration in honor of seeing a film on the big screen that embraces its LGBTQ+ characters, played by an all-LGBTQ+ principal cast, that is full of laughs, charm and a few emotional moments. As Palm Springs Mayor Lisa Middleton noted prior to the start of the film, "most of us remember when our stories were not stories that could be told in public like this."

Eichner's film kicked off the 15th annual LGBTQ+ Cinema Diverse film festival Thursday night with a sold-out audience at the Palm Springs Cultural Center. Amanda Bearse, one of the stars of "Bros" and a Palm Springs resident, joined in the good time, as well.

"It's a beautiful, truly classic romantic comedy that you would expect to find from Nora Ephron or Rob Reiner or Nancy Meyers, who I'm all big fans of," Bearse said. "But it's a romantic comedy that you've never seen before because it's a love story that revolves around two men."

Bearse plays Aaron's mother in the film, who is supportive of her son's relationship with Bobby, but Aaron fears that his partner's personality might be a little too much for her to handle. In one scene, she and Bobby discuss whether she should be teaching her second grade students about LGBTQ+ history. Anne believes her students are too young for the topic, while Bobby argues it will help them be more kind and accepting humans. They "agree to disagree," but Bobby can't seem to drop it.

"Here's the thing about being the straight mom: It's not written as the funny part. It brings a little levity actually. That was kind of a grounded scene for the film, and Billy is extraordinary in it," the "Married... with Children" actress said of the scene. "When somebody's working that hard, and you'll see how much he says, you don't want to interrupt that process."

Bearse added there was an "enormous amount of respect" for cast and crew members during shooting, and she's proud to have been part of the project.

"My greatest wish would be for it to be a crossover film because funny is a universal language and love is a universal language, and this film is full of power and laughs," she said. And because it's a history-making film — Eichner is also the first openly gay man to co-write and star in his own major studio film — it's a "good start" that hopefully leads to more major movie studios putting out stories created by diverse filmmakers, she added.

"Bros" opens in theaters on Sept. 30.

Cinema Diverse runs through Sunday and Sept. 22 through 25 at the Palm Springs Cultural Center where a number of features, short films and documentaries will be screened. 

For a full list of films and screening times, visit https://psculturalcenter.org/filmfest/schedule-at-a-glance. Tickets cost $14.50 for single screenings, $79 for six films and $179 for an all-access pass.

Ema Sasic covers entertainment and health in the Coachella Valley. Reach her at ema.sasic@desertsun.com or on Twitter @ema_sasic.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Billy Eichner's rom-com 'Bros' premieres in Palm Springs with big laughs