When it comes to Tim Robinson, there are two very distinct camps: those who can't get enough of his shows I Think You Should Leave and Detroiters, and those who just don’t get his brand of recoil comedy at all. Actually, make that three, so we can include those who are currently thinking, ‘Who?’
Friendship will do nothing to convert nonbelievers, because it exists primarily to thrill existing fans and create new ones. And it’s likely to succeed mightily on both counts. Writer-director Andrew DeYoung (PEN15) wrote the script with Robinson in mind, so his character, Craig, could have stepped straight out of Leave: he’s excruciatingly awkward, entirely out of step with social mores, and increasingly unable to control himself.
This explains why he has no friends, either in the bland suburban subdivision where he agitates for more speed bumps, the grim office where he makes phone apps more addictive, or even the home in which his wife, Tami (Kate Mara, ideally deadpan), barely tolerates him.
He does get a brief, thrilling reprieve once he meets his new neighbour Austin (a perfect Paul Rudd), an impossibly cool weatherman with a loyal group of friends. When Austin impulsively invites Craig into his incredible life, our desperately basic antihero is engulfed in excitement. But since he cannot handle overwhelming emotions, the inevitable crash is so cringe it will haunt your dreams and spawn countless memes. (‘You made me feel too free!’ he eventually wails to Austin in his defence.)
See it with someone you love now, or drive them crazy by quoting it endlessly later
So, yes, Friendship does feel in many ways like an expanded I Think You Should Leave sketch built on bizarro absurdism and a waterfall of exacerbating circumstances. To his credit, though, DeYoung – a TV director making his feature debut – does take advantage of the opportunity in some satisfying ways.
Leave tends to amplify the insanity by pairing dark experience with bright colours and music, while Detroiters is ultimately a heartfelt tribute to the unshakable bond between male soulmates. Friendship, in contrast, skirts right up to the edge of horror. (This is an A24 movie, after all.) The palette is dingy, the settings are dank, there is no Motown soundtrack to offer some relief (though there is Ghost Town DJ’s’ My Boo in a cappella).
Indeed, while Craig’s unhinged breakdown pushes well into surreality, there’s genuine pathos in the existential nightmare of making the wrong choices, and thus finding oneself essentially alone. If this isn’t your thing, you’ll already know it. And if it is, make your own choice: see it with someone you love now, or drive them crazy by quoting it endlessly later.
In US theaters now