Friendship (2024)

Clingy, Cringey, and Kind of Brilliant - Friendship review by griggs

There aren’t many films that make me laugh out loud in a cinema—Friendship did. Loudly. It’s a goofy, surreal spin on the terror of adult socialising, seen through the eyes of a needy, borderline-psychopathic energy vampire desperately trying to wedge himself into another man’s friend group. Tim Robinson plays the kind of character that might split the room—somewhere between Larry David in Curb and Steve Carell in The Office—but with a difference: he’s not smug, just catastrophically earnest. He doesn’t want to be right, he just wants to belong… even if it means steamrolling every boundary in sight.

His long-suffering wife deserves hazard pay, trapped in a marriage with a man who treats social interaction like a hostage negotiation. The humour leans uncomfortably close to tragedy, but always pulls back just before it hits despair. There’s something admirably loose about the whole thing—not everything sticks, but that feels part of the charm.

It’s deranged, strangely sweet, and very funny. Not quite glued down, but it doesn’t need to be.

Funny, Cringy Character Comedy - Friendship review by GI

An absurdist comedy about male loneliness and inadequacy that is occasionally cringy, hilarious and strange but with a solid central performance from Tim Robinson as Craig. Craig is a dull, suburban husband and father who is socially inept, almost childlike in his attempts to interact with other male colleagues and who cannot understand their ease with each other. All his attempts are met with derision and so he retreats into his isolated shell. Then he meets his new neighbour Austin (Paul Rudd), a local minor celebrity (He's a TV weatherman), he plays in a band and has a group of male friends. Austin at first welcomes Craig in but soon, after some very funny and cringeworthy incidents, decides that it's best to distance himself from Craig. Craig, of course, cannot understand the rejection and is left bereft by it, attempting other ways to find some connections with himself, his family, Austin and others. There are some scenes that don't always fit here for example when Craig decides to try a bizarre 'drug' experience, which makes some parts of the film a little forced as if trying to make it funnier. As a comedy character Craig is interesting if a little too immature bordering on mental illness but the theme of the difficulty of male bonding is cleverly interwoven into the narrative. Rudd , whose character hides a secret that Craig inadvertently discovers, plays a solid counter character to Craig allowing the film to have a gentle touch too as they navigate their 'friendship'. Kate mara plays Craig's wife, sadly she's underused but has a central part to play in Craig's final and extreme push to be 'cool'. An enjoyable film and worth aa watch.