True romance will never die. But bromance? Well, that’s a different story.
One of the more popular movie genres of the past decade, the bromance — that is, a love story between resolutely heterosexual men — seems to be fizzling. Recent examples like “Get Him to the Greek” and “Funny People” underperformed at the box office, and the stars who once defined the genre are seeking other roles (Seth Rogen as a superhero?).
This summer’s movie schedule has been leaning on tween-oriented fantasies like “Twilight” and “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” with seemingly fewer dude-meets-dude comedies.
Where does that leave “Dinner for Schmucks,” which opened Friday? The film stars two bromance veterans, Steve Carell (“The 40-Year-Old Virgin”) and Paul Rudd (“I Love You, Man”). Rudd plays a corporate climber whose cruel- humored boss hosts a dinner party where the goal is to invite the biggest cretin; Carell plays the potential winner, a social misfit whose hobby is dressing dead mice in elaborate costumes.
Based on a 1998 French comedy, “Dinner for Schmucks” may be properly classified as an annoying-friend movie, much like 1987’s “Planes, Trains and Automobiles,” which starred Steve Martin as the uptight career man and John Candy as the overtalkative bumbler. But “Dinner for Schmucks” also adheres to the modern bromance formula: The men meet, grow close, break up and — spoiler alert! — fall back into each other’s arms.
That formula may have reached its peak in 2007, when “Superbad,” spearheaded by Judd Apatow — the writer- director-producer who practically invented the bromance — grossed $121 million, according to BoxOfficeMojo. More recent entries haven’t performed as well.
Apatow’s “Funny People” was one of last year’s biggest disappointments, grossing only $51 million.
And while “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” grossed $63 million in 2008, its spinoff, this year’s “Get Him to the Greek,” eked out just $58 million.
What’s more, the stars of these movies seem increasingly keen to leave them behind. Rogen, the quintessential bromantic leading man, has slimmed down to play a superhero in the coming “The Green Hornet.” Jonah Hill, of “Superbad,” is currently starring as an insecure mama’s boy in the comedy-drama “Cyrus.” And Michael Cera, Hill’s cuddle-mate in “Superbad,” has been gravitating toward teen love stories — with actual girls — like “Youth in Revolt” and the action-comedy “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World,” which opens next month.
There are a few bromance- style films due for release this year, but they seem like throwbacks to older, more familiar formulas. “The Other Guys,” opening Friday, casts Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg as mismatched cops. “Due Date,” scheduled for Nov. 5, is a road-trip comedy with Robert Downey Jr. as an expectant father traveling with a disaster-prone wacko (Zach Galifianakis, also in “Dinner for Schmucks”).
Does this mean we’re seeing the return of the old-fashioned buddy film, with less overt emotion and more gruff shoulder-punching? If so, the bromance may be headed back into the closet.
