‘Friendship’ — Watch Male-Bonding Fail With Hilarious Results — SXSW

Male loneliness has recently become a hot-button topic of conversation. One could make the argument that being lonely has been around since literally forever, but the topic has gained steam since the pandemic forced everyone indoors to reevaluate their relationship to the world. Regardless if the topic is a legitimate attempt at unearthing men’s hidden sensitive feelings or a strawman meant to distract that some men may be maladjusted and burdensome, it is at the forefront of the minds of many, including Andrew DeYoung, writer-director of Friendship.

Think of Friendship as the anti-buddy comedy. Where the forces normally conspire to bring our protagonists together, this movie finds silly and scary means to keep them separate. Tim Robinson (I Think You Should Leave With Tim Robinson) stars as Craig, a daffy, oblivious, and bored husband and father, who suddenly realizes he does not have many relationships outside of his wife and son. One day, he brings a package that is incorrectly delivered to his house to his new neighbor. Neighbor Austin, charismatically played by Paul Rudd (Death of a Unicorn), is fun, affable, and welcoming. The conversation leads to Austin inviting Craig to a hangout. From there, they start developing a friendship, and eventually, Craig gets invited to kick it with a group of Austin’s male friends. Things are going swimmingly until they go drastically wrong for Craig. 

His relationship with Austin becomes strained to its breaking point, and this fracture exposes faults in Craig’s marriage. Craig’s wife Tami (Kate Mara, The Dutchman), who initially encouraged the friendship, grows unhappy. Their marriage was mostly smooth, but Craig’s growing inattentiveness becomes too much to bear. Tami becomes more independent of Craig as he is losing grip on his friendship and work life. By the end of the film, we learn if it is possible for men to consider others and move beyond their own selfish needs.  

Friendship feels like a throwback to the Judd Apatow comedies of the 2000s; it has that level of side-splitting comedy that Hollywood has been missing for quite some time. The men in these universes look and feel real, like any normal guy you would bump into at your local watering hole. Tim Robinson is just as funny as Seth Rogan in Knocked Up or Steve Carell in The 40-Year-Old Virgin. A big difference is with the Apatow films, they all reach a tidy conclusion where the ultimate message is that men, eventually, get it together. If you have a baby out of wedlock, you have to get a big boy job, stay off the weed, and grow up. If you are a virgin in your 40s, you have to persevere beyond everyone’s expectations and your own embarrassments to find your one true love. Friendship is a bit tragic in that the lesson is from the analysis of the journey, not a neat ending. If you are in your 40s and want to make friends, you need to do the exact opposite of Craig. 

The power of Andrew DeYoung’s direction and the amazing comedic acting from Tim Robinson show they understand how unhinged men can quickly become. Robinson is tasked with doing some really deplorable things while still keeping the audience hopeful that he can pull his life together by the end. If you have not seen Robinson’s comedy shows on Netflix and this is your first exposure to him, get ready for a ton of laughs from a performer with a zany and deadpan delivery. You can feel that he gets how absurd Craig ultimately is, but Robinson still carries a glimmer of life and humanity in the character. No one should go through the extremes that Craig does. However, you can see the meaning behind his crazy actions. 

Friendship is in early contention for being the comedy of the year. Also, it should spark interesting discussion on the Craig character and if it is possible for men to learn the right lessons from him. Unlike Rogan or Carell, where the audience is reminded repeatedly that they are redeemable characters, Robinson is not given the same leeway, and the viewer is left on their own to decide if they like or empathize with Craig. Many will not, and Friendship is unapologetically unafraid of that response.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5