Friendship (2025) review

Dir. Andrew DeYoung

By: Steve Pulaski

Rating: ★★★½

Top-shelf cringe comedy has two paths it can take. It’ll either be uncomfortably hilarious or annoyingly unfunny. I never “got” the humor of Tim and Eric, but admired their creativity and constant desire to subvert expectations. I’m willing to bet Tim Robinson is a fan of their work. However, where Heidecker and Wareheim went broad and surreal with their comedy, Robinson strives for something more grounded; a style that results in painfully awkward relatability.

Andrew DeYoung’s Friendship is the perfect star vehicle for the I Think You Should Leave comedian. Its premise will undoubtedly resonate with many a male who lacks the alpha qualities that make fellow males naturally gravitate to them. This is a movie for the loner at a party, who doesn’t know why he’s at the party, but hopes someone will strike up a conversation with him while he tries desperately to act natural and normal. At its essence, it’s about a guy who just wants to have his neighbor as a friend and be one of the guys.

That man is Craig Waterman (Robinson), who lives with his wife Tami (Kate Mara) and teenage son, Steven (Jack Dylan Grazer). Tami is a recent cancer survivor, but with an emotionally unavailable husband, she’s back to seeing an ex-boyfriend, and Craig is the type of guy who naïvely accepts it. Enter Austin Carmichael (Paul Rudd), a weatherman who moves into the neighborhood. A postal mixup affords Craig an opportunity to meet the man who, in no time, he believes is the coolest person on Earth. Austin has a great job, a natural charisma, and even loans his vocals to a punk band.

Craig and Austin’s days of bonding — underscored by the two men exploring a maze of underground tunnels and finding delicious mushrooms in the forest — come to an abrupt end after an odd night of drinking, boxing, and harmonizing Ghost Town DJs’ song “My Boo” with a small group in Austin’s garage. Austin tells Craig he “no longer wishes to continue this friendship” with a dry, matter-of-factness reminiscent of the way Brendan Gleeson let down Colin Farrell in The Banshees of Inisherin. Craig is beside himself, and goes to great, dramatic lengths to try and rekindle the spark they had, however fleeting it proved to be.

For a debut future, DeYoung (also writer) is incredibly confident with his framing and timing. He has every reason to be with material this strong. Friendship is a comedy shot much like a horror film, with uneasy angles and low-lit interiors. Its pacing evokes unease while its dialog prompts riotous laughs. The punchlines are outstanding, and so carefully crafted that they don’t really work out of context. Such is the style of Robinson, who has a knack for brazenly displaying his emotions, blurting vulgarities out of shock, delivering lines with the awkward fervor of a man trying way too hard, and having impressive manipulation of his facial expressions.

DeYoung and Robinson are simpatico when it comes to achieving the tone they desire, thanks to well-tailored comic set-pieces that effectively serve the story. The tension brews as we watch Craig walk a tight-rope of making increasingly unhinged decisions all in an attempt to be seen as a guy who “can hang,” for lack of a better term. The biggest pitfall facing Friendship, besides of course just being unfunny, was the fear it would feel like an arrangement of sketches ala I Think You Should Leave. DeYoung and Robinson assure that’s never the case, as whatever plot-threads they introduce find ways to reappear and serve the larger entity.

Following a strange performance that had Rudd playing the rare unlikable cad in Death of a Unicorn, the veteran actor with underrated range finds a more comfortable groove as a guy anyone would perceive as cool. Most men, I feel, have a male counterpart they met, probably at a point of great change in their life, that they tried to emulate, perhaps subconsciously. Such quiet admiration might lead to one trying too hard to be accepted, or then resulting in the metaphorical snake-eating-its-own-tail act of overanalyzing every move they make in hopes of appearing hip. I speak because I am guilty of it myself. Robinson nails this specificity so well, and Rudd has the natural aura of likability on his side to be the type of person you’d want to impress, even if he himself would see no need for such overcompensation from his peers.

Friendship does a lot for all involved. It shows Robinson’s ability to function swimmingly with feature-length material. It’s a delightful launchpad for Andrew DeYoung, whose next film I’ll make appointment viewing. Cinematographer Andy Rydzewski has no easy feat in shooting a comedy like a horror film, and nailing everything from atmosphere to blocking. Composer Keegan DeWitt crafts a score as quirky as Craig himself, and everyone from Rudd to Mara and Grazer are on the film’s hyper-specific wavelength. Oh, what an enjoyably weird yet riveting wave it is to ride.

Starring: Tim Robinson, Paul Rudd, Kate Mara, Jack Dylan Grazer, Josh Segarra, Billy Bryk, Jason Veasey, Jon Glaser, Eric Rahill, Conner O’Malley, Carmen Christopher, and Craig Frank. Directed by: Andrew DeYoung.