REEL | Tim Robinson and Paul Rudd End Their 'Friendship'

"I don't wish to continue this friendship."

A24 / VVS Films

First-time feature filmmaker Andrew DeYoung directs comedian Tim Robinson and Paul Rudd in the blisteringly funny, anti-buddy tragicomedy, Friendship. A nightmarish combination of an extended version of Robinson's very funny sketch comedy show, I Think You Should Leave, and the adult male friendship premise of Rudd's I Love You, Man, the darkly absurdist bromance film turns sour for a sidesplitting experience that's filmed deadly seriously like a crime thriller.

Both Kate Mara and Jack Dylan Grazer as Robinson's straightman wife and son are remarkably subdued to heighten the hilarious deadpan comedy of his ridiculous middle-aged dad character (Craig). When Rudd's charismatic local weatherman neighbour (Austin) befriends the lonely office worker with a genuine earnestness, the latter quickly becomes infatuated and needy. How he expresses his enthusiasm for the new friendship stretches any semblance of sanity, yet he feels grounded in the many issues facing men today who lack meaningful relationships with other men or are unable to navigate social situations.

There's a growing sense of desperation in Craig and Robinson's eagerly oblivious performance. His obsession with the titular new friendship and how it destroys his life, job, and marriage is nothing short of hysterical in its sheer unpredictability. DeYoung stretches the limits of Robinson's outbursts to a surreal breaking point. It becomes difficult to guess where the film is going and exactly how Craig or his family will react to each insane setback.

Friendship is like nothing else—apart from perhaps The Cable Guy. Much of it feels so uncomfortably random yet impressively structured to mine Robinson's isolating comedic persona perfectly. It cannot be underestimated how it sets up certain situational jokes to pay them off spectacularly. Rudd and Mara around Robinson let him truly shine and drown as a monstrous ball of uproarious dark humour. DeYoung's genius is the straightforward filming, direction, and performances that make the sense of dread audiences constantly feel so f*cking funny yet also deeply upsetting at the same time.


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