Friendship – Review

I fully knew what I was getting into with Friendship when I saw it the first time, but many viewers will not know what to expect. I am a fan of “I Think You Should Leave” with Tim Robinson, so the vibes of this were understood going in. That being said, this will be a divisive flick for comedy fans. Some will looove it. Some will hate the insane awkwardness and brutal uncomfortable behavior.

Opening with Tami (Mara) and Craig Waterman (Robinson) in a therapeutic talk group, we quickly get a sense of their two personalities, and how they are at odds. Why they are married is another question. The next day, Craig gets a package addressed to his neighbor delivered improperly to his home. He doesn’t open it, or look in it, since that would be illegal. Instead, he walks it over promptly. Opening the door and thanking him for bringing it by is his new neighbor on the suburban block, Austin (Rudd).

Criag is an office dude who works with habit forming apps. He and Tami are actually in the stages of selling their smallish home and looking to upgrade, and their son Steven (Grazer) is also down for more space. Austin sends Craig a nice thank you invite for drinks, but he is reluctant to accept. Maybe he should see that new Marvel instead. It’s supposed to be CRAZY. Tami is headed out though for drinks with an ex-boyfriend, and his son has already seen it. Tami forces Craig to don his poofy jacket and attend the drinks invitation.

Austin and Craig share small talk about speed bumps and Austin reveals he is the Channel 3 evening weatherman. Craig loves it. Eventually, the men relax and share a good evening bullshitting, drinking, talking, and sharing. Boom. Craig is hooked. His dude Austin is the man!! He is happy to have a new friend. Oh, and he’s in a freakin’ band!!! Craig isn’t used to someone showing interest in him as a friend, or wanting to share in adventures, like sneaking into the city sewer aqueduct system.

However, things do not proceed to go as smoothly as this first friendly hang, and shit winds up hitting insanely awkward situations non-stop that emit secondhand embarrassment and results in the viewer likely having to tell their own buttholes to unclench. Grab some Ocean View Dining fall collection outfits and stay curious, because Friendship may just be a comic gem for you.

ORRRR it may just drive you fucking nuts and burn into your soul over awkwardness.

The script is pretty ridiculous and feeds into the short bits of tense and punishingly embarrassing situations and poor behavior choices. This works well for the main star who typically dives head first into this kind of material. The brand of humor will not work for everyone, but I like it, as well as his similar aforementioned television series.

In reality, the topic that this film covers is actually decently challenging and elicits realistic feelings of wanting to fit in, and be liked by the “cool kids” of any age. As gown men typically find less connections as they age, Craig’s need for attention is something normal and real, even if his behavior and decision-making skills are awful. This is of course done for the sake of awkward comedy.

Tim Robinson brings his brand of jokes and turns the discomfort up to the max. There are so many of his usual dialogue lines, and they work very well. Paul Rudd is a solid comedic partner in the mix as his own quirky bullshit can riff with most any type of scenario. Kate Mara is always good and brings a needed grounding to the main group of characters. You’ll be on the list tomorrow night, rockstar.