Star of 'Historic' Gay Movie Gets Backlash After Blaming 'Straight People' for Opening Weekend Box Office Flop
Next time he should shoot for parody.
In an unholy mix of entitlement and entertainment, the maker of a “historic” (according to The Hollywood Reporter) romantic comedy about gay love has pinpointed the real problem that made the movie an expensive box office bomb.
And it’s not the people behind the camera.
Billy Eichner, the writer and star of the soon-to-be footnote in cinema history going by the title of “Bros,” took to Twitter on Sunday to point the finger where it belongs for the fact that the movie took in a dismal $4 million on its opening weekend:
Squarely at the moviegoing audience.
“That’s just the world we live in, unfortunately. Even with glowing reviews, great Rotten Tomatoes scores, an A CinemaScore etc, straight people, especially in certain parts of the country, just didn’t show up for Bros. And that’s disappointing but it is what it is,” wrote Billy Eichner, the actor-comedian probably best known for his “Billy on the Street” character on Funny or Die and a role on the NBC series “Parks and Recreation.”
That’s just the world we live in, unfortunately. Even with glowing reviews, great Rotten Tomatoes scores, an A CinemaScore etc, straight people, especially in certain parts of the country, just didn’t show up for Bros. And that’s disappointing but it is what it is.
— billy eichner (@billyeichner) October 2, 2022
He followed that up with this bit of irresistible promotion:
“Everyone who ISN’T a homophobic weirdo should go see BROS tonight! You will have a blast! And it *is* special and uniquely powerful to see this particular story on a big screen, esp for queer folks who don’t get this opportunity often. I love this movie so much. GO BROS!!!”
That tweet was adorned with a big heart and a rainbow, naturally.
Everyone who ISN’T a homophobic weirdo should go see BROS tonight! You will have a blast! And it *is* special and uniquely powerful to see this particular story on a big screen, esp for queer folks who don’t get this opportunity often. I love this movie so much. GO BROS!!!
— billy eichner (@billyeichner) October 2, 2022
Sure, things have changed a lot in motion pictures since old C.B. DeMille set up shop in a horse barn in Southern California in the first quarter of the 20th century, but the bottom line has always been about separating customers from their hard-earned money — a project that’s most successful when giving audiences what they want.
As the mega-success of the shoot-’em-up, all-American action film “Top Gun: Maverick” proved, that’s still the key to success — even in the first quarter of the 21st century.
But for Eichner and his ilk, marinated in the Hollywood atmosphere of liberal polemics, apparently, the idea now is to give audiences what filmmakers want, get some in-the-bubble movie reviewers to write up slathering, politically approved praise — and expect John and Jane Q. Public to pay up handsomely just for participating.
“Bros” is an openly gay romantic comedy, see, and it stars an openly gay man who wrote an openly gay script. And if that isn’t openly gay historic, what is?
“Go see my movie or you’re a bigot” isn’t the sales pitch you think it is.
— Sam Rosenthal (@SirSardonic) October 3, 2022
But the world doesn’t work that way — not in a free country, anyway, where men and women outside the nation’s liberal bastions stayed away from Eichner’s film in droves.
Not even charming bits of advertising like this, with Eichner using his “Billy on the Street” character and dragging along actor Jack Black, managed to pull in the crowds.
WARNING: The following video contains vulgar language that some viewers may find offensive.
“Bros’ top 10 markets were all in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles, while it is underperforming in much of the middle of the country and the south,” The Hollywood Reporter noted, making a considerable understatement of “underperforming.”
Previously that outlet had called the film “historic”
Eichner’s self-pitying, accusatory tweets had their sympathizers, of course, Twitter being the bed-wetter haven it generally is. But there were more than a few responses that explained things a little better.
HT @RonColeman
Not a homophobic weirdo, but I am not interested in that movie..
Tired this type of calumny because of my personal choices. pic.twitter.com/Ikl5JjEdaS
— Random XTreeMi Tuesday Schlub (@amwick2) October 3, 2022
Yeah, straight white southern males are the problem. Perhaps calling us homophonic weirdos isn’t great marketing.
Especially in football season (3/8/96 for birdcage)
Had this flashed across my Netflix menu before this, I might have given it a shot. Not anymore. pic.twitter.com/UMSKSoFQtg
— Rap feynman (@0596Simon) October 3, 2022
My plans for tonight are based on my availability and interests. Not your career. OKaaay?
— a classy occurrence • miles of smiles (@SomeClass) October 2, 2022
And as for Eichner’s pretensions that the movie must have merit because of its reviews?
Maybe all the critics were afraid to give you an honest review because you might call them homophobic weirdos.
— Just looking for the facts (@KaeppelDave) October 3, 2022
Judging by the marketplace of entertainment, “Bros” is a bust, but Eichner’s reaction to the failure is a perfect example of the liberal mindset at work — whether it’s in politics, “social justice” issues or entertainment.
The American people are not to be treated like adults capable of making their own choices and an audience that must be catered to by anyone who wants their money, their support or their votes.
In the progressive world, Americans are to be lectured, harangued and ultimately extorted — because their support is obligatory, whether it’s financial or political, when it’s demanded by their betters.
So when Americans are appalled by President Joe Biden’s giveaway of hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars in student loan “forgiveness,” it’s simply because they’re the kinds of cruel human beings who are opposed to “much-needed relief for working families,” as White House press secretary Karin Jean-Pierre put it.
With polls showing Americans tired of watching Biden and congressional Democrats destroy the country with illegal immigration, inflation and a tanking economy are likely to vote Republican in the November midterm elections, it’s because they’re “ultra-MAGA,” “semi-fascist” black shirts in waiting.
Because Democrats believe Americans owe Democrats their support, and if they don’t get it, there’s something wrong with Americans, not with the Democratic product. It’s a mindset Eichner obviously understands well.
As a movie, it’s a good bet “Bros” is a bomb. But as an object lesson in the American entitlement-entertainment complex of the world of the 21st century, and the perspective of political progressives, Eichner’s response is beyond parody.
In fact, it’s picture perfect.
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