Tim Robinson, I owe you an apology. I wasn’t really familiar with your game.
Before watching “Friendship” in my local movie theater this week (the U.K. release was delayed, whereas it landed in the U.S. in May), I wasn’t aware of Robinson’s brand of off-beat, usually cringeworthy humor. But it turns out his comedic stylings fit my sense of humor to a tee.
I should probably also take this chance to apologize to my fellow audience members at my screening. I was laughing so loudly and so often that I started getting annoyed glances in my direction. I was half expecting an employee to quietly tell me to settle down or they’d kick me out for being a disturbance.
Now, the good news is that “Friendship” is already available to stream via premium video-on-demand platforms like Prime Video and Apple TV, so you can watch from home, if you’d like to avoid the embarrassment of uncontrollably laughing in public. Seriously, it’s more than worth the rental fee.
If you’re looking for a bitingly sharp comedy that even mixes in some psychological drama elements to keep things interesting, then you need to get acquainted with “Friendship.” Just be warned, it’ll have you practically clawing at your face in sheer awkwardness extremely often.
What is ‘Friendship’ about?
Craig Waterman (Tim Robinson) is a socially clueless marketing executive without a friend to his name. At the suggestion of his wife, Tami (Kate Mara), he attempts to make pals with the brand new neighbor, Austin (Paul Rudd).
After hanging out a few times, Craig becomes obsessed with Austin, who works as a weatherman for the local news, plays in a punk band and his a sweet mustache. But after a highly awkward evening spent with Austin and his other pals, Craig is ostracized from the group, and Austin ends the friendship.
Increasingly desperate to earn back Austin’s approval, Craig’s self-destructive personality goes into overdrive, and eventually, the increasingly intense situation might just ruin both of their lives.
‘Friendship’ is a masterclass in comedy and cringe
In my opinion, the sign of a good comedy is its quotability. When you spend hours after watching trying to pick out your favorite line or gag, then you know you’ve seen something pretty special. With “Friendship,” I could fill a whole article with its funniest quotes, and I still can't pick my very favorite line.
Even writing this article, a couple of days after watching, just reflecting on some of the ludicrous things Robinson says throughout is forcing me to pause typing because I’m laughing too much.
“Friendship” is one of the smartest written comedies of this, or any, year, and if pushed to pick a favorite moment, I'll go with the Subway scene — once you've seen the movie, you'll understand why.
Of course, the whole reason that “Friendship” works so well is down to the brilliance of Robinson. He’s a comedic force from the drop, and even just a sight of his face, often screwed up into a bizarre expression, is enough to have you chuckling.
The character of Craig isn’t especially likable, and is in major self-sabotage mode across the 100-minute runtime, but I still found myself oddly rooting for him, just because he’s so socially clueless you can’t help but pity him.
Backing up Robinson is Paul Rudd, no stranger to the “bromance” genre, having also featured in 2009’s “I Love You, Man.” Rudd’s Austin is presented as seriously slick, but as his layers are peeled back, we see he’s just as insecure and prone to self-destruction as Craig, which adds extra depth to his character.
Together, the Robinson and Rudd pairing proves to be an unstoppable double act, and the chemistry between them could not be richer.
And it’s not like Robinson and Rudd are forced to carry the whole weight of the movie either. Kate Mara plays the straight character, but is fantastic throughout, and Connor O’Malley shows up for a brief part, but in just a few minutes of screentime delivers multiple lines that had me in stitches.
“Friendship” takes things up a notch by layering in elements of psychological drama; the tone is often unsettling, like something bad is going to happen.
In some ways, this heightens the comedy, but it also gives the movie a fantastic sense of escalation. Things build and build, and while you want Craig to just stop making things worse, you know he won’t, and seemingly can't.
As much as I love “Friendship,” I can acknowledge that it won’t be for everybody. It’s a movie that reveals uncomfortable situations, with Craig constantly making a complete fool of himself, even though it’s pretty much always his own fault that life is beating him up. And to some viewers, this large emphasis on cringeworthy humor will be hard to watch. It’s certainly not an easy-going comedy full of broad gags that the whole family will enjoy.
However, if you have the stomach for comedy that jumps between hilarious and slightly horrible, to the point you’ll want to cover your eyes from second-hand embarrassment, then “Friendship” is a movie you can’t afford to miss.
You need to stream ‘Friendship’ now
I’m certainly not “Friendship’s” only fan either. The movie currently holds an impressive 88% score on Rotten Tomatoes, which is enough to earn it a Certified Fresh seal of approval. And even the audience score is a solid 73% — which is higher than I expected, considering I could see this movie being very divisive due to its off-beat nature and its darker tone.
“Tim Robinson expands his exquisitely painful cringe comedy style to feature length with seamless results in Friendship, a toxic bromance that'll make audiences laugh and wince in equal measure,” reads RT’s ‘Critics Consensus,’ and I couldn’t echo that write-up more.
“Friendship” is a movie I can’t wait to rewatch on streaming because I have no doubt there were genius jokes I missed. After all, the laughter tears in my eyes were obscuring my vision half the time I was watching. And you better believe I’m starting Robinson’s Netflix show “I Think You Should Leave” this weekend. I hear “Friendship” is like a feature-length episode. Consider me sold.
In "Friendship," Tim Robinson and writer/director Andrew DeYoung have crafted a comedy movie that I’m going to be quoting for years to come. So I suppose I should dish out a third (and hopefully final) apology to my friend and family. Prepare for me to not shut up about this one for a very long time.
Stream "Friendship" with purchase on Prime Video and Apple TV
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