discuss: that awkward moment

Just the other day I was reading about how the rom-com is dead—it’s YA-based movies that are taking their place, apparently, in case you were wondering.

But the new red band trailer for That Awkward Moment has me wondering if it didn’t disappear, but rather, just changed shape a bit.

Yes, I think we’ve entered the era of the brom-com. That is, the romantic-comedy that, instead of being about women and their trying to land and guy while talking about it all over cocktails with their BFFs, follows bros and their trying not to land a girl (while generally failing) while talking about it over beers with their bromance-y buds. The premise is usually the same—guys being really scared to commit, but realizing in the end that, hey, having someone who you love and who loves you back is actually pretty nice. Think Friends With Benefits, Don Jon, and now, That Awkward Moment.

The film, out January 31, 2014, follows Zac Efron, Miles Teller, and Michael B. Jordan as bresties (yes, bro-besties) who promise each other that they’re just going to play the field and not going to get serious with anyone. Of course, that doesn’t really go according to plan. The end result probably tells us less about how real people act (are we still pretending like women’s job is to play hard-to-get and not actually want to sleep with a guy?) and more about how Efron is quickly becoming our favorite deadpan comic actor (I totally LOL’d at his “cock-tail” line). But really, isn’t that what the rom-com—and now the brom-com—is all about: providing comic relief to the fantasy scenarios playing out in our heads?

Watch the red band trailer below and see for yourself.