A Bad Bromance

Everyone has that one best friend, you know who he or she is; they’re the one that is a selfish, insensitive child who drags everyone in the group through all sorts of mischievous adventures; and yet, you stick by their side unconditionally. Why? Why would a human being be so close to a friend, a safety hazard, a little too close that the bond becomes borderline creepy? The bond between two male friends is what society calls a bromance and has been a continually popular movie genre within comedy. Men, in particular, are well known for being extremely close with one another and having long lasting friendships. Is it because they know each other’s limits or because they have no limits? The latter of the theories is the most probable, proven by movies such as Lethal Weapon and The Hangover where one friend brings forth chaos and the other is stupid enough to follow: I’ll jump off the cliff if you do. The very thought of what those men put up with for each other can drive anyone to the looney home.

Now I’m not saying society has dwindled down to relying only on brain-dead humor for a good laugh; in fact, most bromance movies contain well-developed scenarios and jokes as well as a well-developed theme, though that is often covered up by behavior that is not appropriate in the outside world. Humans are busy bees, and what exhausted person is going to watch a film where they have to think after working at the hive all day; “that would be, um, none” (Dunham). The way to draw in this tired crowd is by creating a movie that takes all but one second to understand the jokes, thus the bromance genre comes into play.

Wait, what about plot and characters? How is this genre going to relate to the audience in any way? Two words: friends and comedy. Everyone is attracted to something that can make them laugh, after all, laughter is the best medicine. Bromance movies often include a sense of recklessness much like in The Hangover where a few too many drinks in Las Vegas proves to be a bad choice and the best way to forget where you left your friend; however, if you want a man-eating tiger in your hotel room then that’s the best way to go. Party all night long with no consequences? People like that sense of invincibility in which movies like these give them a chance to enjoy that through the characters. Bromance movies captures the energy that radiates when being with friends and the turmoil that exists in everyday life which allows the laughter to conitinue as the audience witness the men trying to dig themselves out of the trench.

With friends, age isn’t such an obstacle, and no matter how old you are, you and your friends are going to push each other to outrageous limits, but friends stay next to you every step of the way. Relating to the movie Wedding Crashers good old pal Jeremy goes through one of the most traumatizing after parties of his life so his friend, John, can steal the girl of his dreams who happens to be engaged; however, their number one rule states to “never leave a fellow crasher behind”. Another friendship based saying is “bros before…” well, you know. Such an inappropriate universal code of friendship is also known as the ‘bro code’ which has its own bit at the end of every episode of How I Met Your Mother to remind every man what friends are for and what they should or should not do for each other. Even girls have their own phrases which all generally boils down to never leaving your friend behind, a rule most people aspire to follow and, for the most part, never break. Movies with this honorary code forms a connection with the audience and the characters because anyone, no matter the age or gender, has shared a close bond such as this with a fellow human being.

Unfortunately some friends are thrown out with yesterday’s garbage, and we feel sympathy for Jeremy in Wedding Crashers as he sticks to the ‘bro code’ but is left in the dirt by his friend over one girl, along with bullets shot in his butt, bruises and scrapes from a little rough game of football, and two psychotic, wealthy brats (adults) who become madly in love with him and put him through a living nightmare. Poor poor Jeremy all he wanted was to live the life of a playboy on the weekends and return to society during the week. His self-centered friend provides plenty of hilarious chaos in Jeremy’s routine leaving him broken and battered, physically and emotionally, but we, as an audience, applaud him for putting up with John and providing more cringing and gut-busting scenes. Really, it had to be that girl John? John is the narcissistic character who has a good butt-kicking with his name on it, but this attribute is what made me enjoy it even more. Love to hate is how we as a society can sleep peacefully at night. Though they have a minor fall out, actually a major fall out, but these two friends have their comeback moments; one moment was when they put eye drops in the girl’s fiancé’s drink as a form of revenge. The moments when Jeremy is knocked down and John decides ditch him or rub salt in the wound creates a bubble of laughter throughout the movie. Wedding Crashers is a movie about the single life but can be watched by anyone above the age of thirteen; this movie provides snappy comebacks and cringing scenarios that are sure to captivate an audience.














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