Despite the movie not being released in theatres until 30 September for US viewers and 28 October for UK audiences, the film's IMDb rating plunged to 5.5/10 on Friday (23 September) with 312 one-star reviews out of 678.
Due to IMDb's review system not being able to distinguish between contributions from critics and audiences, all reviews as well as all professional reviews have since been completely removed from the movie's website.
Before they were eliminated, however, Out discovered that almost 43% of the surviving reviews awarded the film ten stars, while 78% gave it at least seven.
Review bombing is the harmful behaviour of providing a piece of media a lot of bad reviews to discourage people from watching it.
It is typically done due to the review bombers' discriminatory beliefs, with homophobia appearing to be the primary motivator in this case.
Given the constantly favourable reviews from audiences at the Toronto International Film Festival, where Bros made its debut on September 9, the surprisingly low ranking was all the more unexpected.
Additionally, the film received an astounding 94% approval rating out of 36 professional reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, which separates critic and audience evaluations. Before the movie opens in theatres, audience ratings are restricted.
According to BBC writer Caryn James, "Bros speeds ahead almost to the finish when it embraces rom-com clichés, including a montage, that land as more clichéd than subversive." But that doesn't lessen how enjoyable and successful the remainder of this wonderful movie is.
In addition, Nicolas Rapold of the Financial Times noted that the movie had a "rawness and a vulnerability here so unfamiliar to recent entrants in the genre" that it feels new despite having "recognisable features of the romcom."
Prior to the 18 May publication of the movie's trailer, Billy Eichner told PinkNews and other LGBTQ+ media sources that it is "crucial" to put gay people's needs first.
"I let everyone know that, while I wanted to produce a movie that was amusing and accessible to everyone, I wanted to make a movie that felt real to LGBTQ+ persons that the movie is about in the beginning of producing Bros," he said.
He continued by explaining how Bros is historic in a number of ways, including how Eichner is the first out homosexual person to create and star in his own major studio movie, which he finds "bizarre and annoying." Bros was also the first gay rom-com to be distributed by a major studio.
But despite all the historical data associated with it, I most wanted to create a real, funny, and emotional movie about what it's like to be a single homosexual adult man trying to date in 2022.
