13 Bromances
Bromance?
What is a bromance exactly? It’s defined on Urban Dictionary as the complicated love and affection between two heterosexual men, but I think any tight relationship between men will also suffice, complications notwithstanding. I just finished watching Pineapple Express, and its reviews have had the term bromance thrown around a lot, so in honor of the amusement that is Pineapple Express, here’s 13 bromances (other lists of 13 here):
1. Pineapple Express – James Franco, guys, James Franco. I already liked him from his Harry Osbourne/Green Goblin stint but his role as the pot dealer who loves his bubby is not only utterly hilarious but an exact replica of my friend’s college boyfriend. Ah, memories.
2. Swingers – frankly, I hated this movie, except for the opening “Double Down” sequence, but I acknowledge that it belongs on a bromance list.
3. 25th Hour – I initially had Rounders on my bromance list but decided to replace it with 25th Hour since I can only put so many Edward Norton movies on one list. I view the bromance between Edward Norton and his two friends as an interesting take on the long term friendship, the equivalent of the college friends you always wondered about how/why they became friends only to discover that they met when they lived together in the dorms. There are certain things that bring people together, and it’s interesting to see them looking out for each other to the very end.
4. Top Gun – I know, I know, Take My Breath Away, Kelly McGillis, You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling… you’d think this was a regular ‘ol romance, but as Quentin Tarantino puts it so eloquently at the end of Sleep With Me, Top Gun is about the dudes.
5. Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle – Not only a movie about friendship between two guys, but Neil Patrick Harris at his finest. Also the only movie I’ve ever seen where two guys ride a cheetah.
6. Superbad – Here’s a bromance between two high school boys (and kind of between those two cops and McLovin) on a crazy adventure to bring alcohol to a party to impress two certain girls. I think this movie may have been too built up for me because I was expecting something much more spectacular than what I saw, though I admit to laughing at every scene involving McLovin and the “These Eyes” singing sequence (side story: I went to The Guess Who concert at Boomtown casino in New Orleans because my friend won tickets on a radio show that asked the question, “What is Homer Simpson’s middle name?” – it was my first trip to a casino and I won $75 on a slot machine). I just don’t feel the need to buy this movie and watch it over and over, which is my ultimate determination for what brings a movie from good to great.
7. City Slickers – This is a movie overflowing with bromance. Jack Palance and Billy Crystal, Billy Crystal and his friends, the ice cream guys, and, I don’t know, something about being out in the wild. Can you imagine the jokes if this movie had come out after Brokeback Mountain?
8. Flight of the Conchords – I know this isn’t a movie, but one can wish.
9. Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny – Total bromance, TOTAL BROMANCE. Also, a Guitarance, which is something that occurs daily in my house.
10. Several Will Ferrell flicks, in order of Most Bromantic to Least Bromantic: Stepbrothers, Night at the Roxbury, Talladega Nights, Anchorman, and Old School. And my most oft-quoted phrases from these movies, respective to the previous list: “fancy sauce”; “EMILIOOOOOOOOO!”; “Shake and bake!”; “I’m kind of a big deal”; “We’re going to Home Depot, maybe Bed Bath and Beyond.”
11. Tropic Thunder, and pretty much all other war movies – I find war movies all converge towards creating one big Bromance, because they’re often about the relationships between men that develop when they’re at war. A better example of a war movie bromance would probably have been Gallipoli with Mel Gibson and Mark Lee or the 1930 film, All Quiet on the Western Front. I choose Tropic Thunder mainly because it’s the latest one I’ve seen and (clearly) most ridiculous. I think the only other funny war movies I’ve seen are MASH and Life is Beautiful (really, how many war comedies are out there?).
12. Highlander: Endgame – yes, of course I have to include this movie. Duncan! Connor! Together! (For a while, sniff sniff.)
13. Hot Fuzz – So if you enjoyed Shaun of the Dead, you’ll probably like Hot Fuzz, a buddy cop film about a tough cop and a cop who emulates the heroes of Bad Boys II and Point Break. If that isn’t enough, they encounter strange things afoot in their little town and it turns out to be problems of the occult kind. ‘Nuff said.
So there’s my list. I considered adding The Hustler in place of one of the others because I just watched it the other night and after getting over the fact that Piper Laurie creeps me out as a young and beautiful drunk cripple as much as she creeps me out as an older Bible thumping freak mom in Carrie, I decided there was a lot to be said about Paul Newman’s relationship with his original partner in crime that he kicks to the curbside halfway through the movie. But it seemed just too ridiculous to have The Hustler on a list that also included Harold and Kumar, even for me…
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