At the intersection of the buddy picture and the romantic comedy lies the bromantic comedy. In this case, however, both leads will be male and the relationship pursued will be strictly platonic, possibly diving headlong into "no homo" territory. Also unlike its romantic counterpart, a true Brom-Com is decidedly not a Chick Flick.
Distinguishing between this trope and the buddy picture is a little more complicated, but a preliminary way to mark the difference is that a pure bromantic comedy would not center around, for example, unlikely allies coming together to overcome adversity. Rather, the plot of a Bro-Com is specifically driven by the relationship between the characters themselves, much like a regular Rom Com. Naturally, if things work out well, the story culminates in a (more or less) straightforward bromance.
Examples
- 21 Jump Street has a number of bromantic moments, such as Schmidt asking his partner Jenko to prom (as part of their undercover work) and Jenko climbing all over Schmidt in bed. Though they start as high school enemies, by the end it has become a full-on bromance.
- 22 Jump Street extremely ups the ante for the Jenko/Schmidt bromance, with Homoerotic Subtext out the wazoo, Schmidt and Jenko having a counseling session together, and Schmidt becoming distraught when Jenko states that they need to "investigate other people."
- About a Boy plays like a textbook romantic comedy, except the couple are an emotionally stunted Manchild and a maladjusted kid from a seriously dysfunctional family.
- The Green Hornet gives this a superhero twist. It uses a lot of the Bromantic Comedy tropes in order to deconstruct/reconstruct the hero/sidekick dynamic.
- Hot Fuzz fits the bill rather well. Amusingly, most of this owes itself to the fact that Angel was meant to have a love interest named Victoria, but after she was cut, most of her lines were given to Danny with surprisingly few changes.
- The Hangover is a film series consisting of three films which adapts Rom Com tropes.
- I Love You, Man, which embraces and adapts countless Rom Com tropes.
- Love Actually is a Rom Com that has multiple couples, one of them is a bromantic couple.
- The first half of Melody (S.W.A.L.K.) is about how Daniel makes friends with Ornshaw before it heads into Romantic Comedy territory with Melody.
- On the Count of Three is a dark version, dealing with a suicide pact between two best friends and serious subjects like child molestation and mental illness with Black Comedy.
- Plan B is mainly about the bromantic friendship between a man and his ex-girlfriend's boyfriend. And while it tips into full-blown Queer Romance near the end, the bromance is just as integral to the film and its characters as the romance.
- Though some versions of The Producers have a romantic subplot between Leo and Ulla, the main story of all versions is about how Leo Bloom and Max Bialystock came to be Heterosexual Life-Partners (in crime) on Broadway. Near the end, it even has Leo testifying in court to what a great friend Max has been to him.
- Role Models as it stars Paul Rudd who has been known for staring in romantic comedies and has dabbled in buddy films.
- Step Brothers as the main characters are forced to live together and eventually form a friendly bond.
- Superbad is nominally a sex comedy about the two main characters trying to get with women, but the emotional core of the movie is Evan and Seth's deep but fraying platonic friendship, which has some homoerotic undertones.
- The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent has Nicolas Cage find a kindred spirit in the wealthy Loony Fan he appoints to write his next movie, despite the CIA suspecting him as a crime lord.
- Withnail and I was once described by Roger Ebert as 'a Bromance going horribly wrong'.
