Friendship Review

I Have No Friends, and I Must Scream

On the press tour for his show with Emma Stone and Benny Safdie, The Curse, Nathan Fielder was asked about Cringe, and he had a quote that I haven't been able to get out of my head. Fielder said,

"When I hear the word like, "Oh, it's cringey," and someone's like, "I can't handle it," I wonder how that person can go through life at all. Because every interaction is horrendous almost all in some way. Nothing ends with a cut when you're in real life. There's nothing else to say, and everyone has subtext of things they're not saying to each other, and that feels like normal. So it's interesting that people have a hard time with it, but also, it's like we weren't trying to do that. We love it when characters are in scenes, and they're not saying what they're actually feeling and maybe communicating in some other way."

Andrew DeYoung's Friendship, starring Tim Robinson and Paul Rudd, resonates completely through Fielder's words. It is a hilariously cringy bromance tossed with the madness of everyday life and societal norms. Trying to fit in as an adult in a world trying to make you conform and find some relationship at all is challenging. As someone who has just entered his 30s, trying to make a new friend and not embarrassing yourself is terrifying and can sometimes be humiliating. DeYoung captures Robinson's obscene and loud sense of humor that fans of I Think You Should Leave will come to love in Friendship. Still, I think there's something darkly sweet that Friendship taps into about the way we feel crazy all the time, trying to fit in and scraping by for any connection. This beautifully lit film has a pacing problem that can feel like a slog, but when the bits are hitting, they are sublime, and I can see many friends quoting this movie for years to come.

Friendship delves into the life of Craig Waterman (Tim Robinson), a man who feels out of place in his marketing job and is navigating a strained relationship with his cancer-recovering wife Tami (Mara Rooney), who's rekindled things with her ex. When a package is misdelivered to his home, he returns it to his new neighbor, Austin Carmichael (Paul Rudd), and the two bond over punk music, restlessness, and the challenges of their jobs. They embark on exciting adventures, but their friendship hits a rough patch when Craig embarrasses himself at a party at Austin's with Austin's friends present. Craig's journey to mend his relationship with Austin and his wife while trying to regain control of his life is a relatable struggle many can empathize with.

Tim Robinson is firing on all cylinders here. He has been saving some of his best outbursts and skits for this film and has had several waiting in the chamber to unload on us. How he plays this total outcast and misfit in a society trying to pretend what's happening in life is normal is phenomenal. His loud and cringe-inducing line delivery has always been his god's gift to the world, but his physical comedy is also on full display. Paul Rudd plays the perfect everyday man foil to him, and the two have excellent chemistry. It helps that Rudd's character, even though he's playing the small-town weatherman, is also a weirdo; it amplifies the relationship's zaniness. When the two are on screen, the film is flying by, but when Rudd exits the film halfway through for a time, it can be felt, and Friendship can drag, unfortunately.

Man, does this movie look good! It has some incredible lighting for a comedy, but it fits the disturbing tone it's going for. DeYoung's direction has to be applauded here as he dips into the surreal with some wild dissolves, transitions, and whimsy that have the chance to lose the audience, but he pulls it off masterfully. To nail the style of comedy and timing that brings out the best of Robinson's humor, you need to have an eye for the detail that DeYoung does so well. I also have to shout out the music choices, but I could have used some more Slipknot.

Friendship will be divisive, but it will mostly depend on how Robinson's humor works on you and whether you can handle the cringeworthy. But like Fielder said, this is what real life can be like. You feel like an alien in a strange world, looking around at all these people trying to force you to conform to their norms, and you want to yell and ask what the hell is going on. I cried laughing half a dozen times during this insane bromance, so I highly recommend it, even though not all the pieces worked for me, especially the pacing. There's something darkly sweet here about wanting the companionship of any kind.

P.S. You had Connor O’Malley, and you didn’t use him more? Jail.

Final Score: 8/10

Written by Kevin J. Pettit