Doubling down on the bit is par for the course for maestro-of-cringe Tim Robinson. In his first leading movie role, the star of cult sketch show I Think You Should Leave does his usual zany schtick, this time to impress and befriend his new neighbor played by Paul Rudd. Who among us wouldn’t?
In Friendship, writer-director Andrew DeYoung’s debut feature, Craig Waterman (Robinson) works a corporate office job and spends his free time alone on a recliner. His wife (Kate Mara) is distant after a recent triumph over cancer, and his teenage son (Jack Dylan Grazer) is a little too weirdly affectionate toward her. The daily monotony is interrupted when a package gets wrongly delivered to the Watermans. Craig begrudgingly treks up the street to return the mail addressed to local TV weatherman Austin Carmichael (Rudd). Fatefully, the two have an instant connection.
For Craig, the burgeoning bromance quickly morphs into an obsession. Austin’s enigmatic personality exhilarates him, and Robinson and Rudd’s onscreen chemistry perfectly captures that honeymoon feeling of a nascent friendship. But Craig, whose foot would always be in his mouth if he had the common sense to know it should be, ruins the moment at a casual hangout in front of Austin’s drinking buddies. Like the setup for one of Robinson’s skits, Craig tells Austin after embarrassing him, “You made me feel too free,” and that “people need rules.” It’s too late for an explanation, though, and the short-lived camaraderie is kaput. Needless to say, Craig spirals over the swift breakup.
Through hilarious and chaotic episodes that dizzyingly transition from one to the next, Friendship dives headfirst into the absurd. Bolstered by a chilling – at times even haunting – cinematography (courtesy of Andy Rydzewski) and a hypnotic score from Keegan DeWitt, the film grounds its genuinely laugh-out-loud goofiness with a sneaking sense of dread. While there are certainly parallels to black comedy classics – the agonizing mundanity of Office Space or the lonely desperation of Election, for example – DeYoung’s entry stands out from the canon by being hysterically over-the-top.
What further sets Friendship apart from its predecessors is the sincerity at its heart. This is a movie, essentially, about the contemporary issue of male social isolation and its nasty consequences. Thankfully, DeYoung’s script avoids taking the easy bait of cynicism and opts for empathy. For Robinson’s part, his Craig acts as the vessel into the psyche of the everyman, contorting his face and body in oddball ways to portray the emotions men are expected to hide. He gives the viewer permission to laugh at him by holding a mirror right back at them.
Screens again Tuesday, March 11.
Read Richard Whittaker’s interview with Andrew DeYoung.
Friendship
Festival Favorite, U.S. Premiere
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This article appears in March 7 • 2025.