* This review contains spoilers! *
“Time for you to touch God.”
– Toad Boy
So the other day, I decided to get a ticket to see A24’s new dark comedy film Friendship, directed by Andrew DeYoung. Well, being completely transparent, I am an AMC Stubs Club Member (I know, super sexy) so technically the ticket was free. Nonetheless, if I see Paul Rudd’s face in a trailer, especially with a mustache like that, I will be getting a ticket. I saw the trailers, and first I’d like to say I am a firm believer that trailers should be as vague as possible. I wanna be excited about the movie, but I don’t want you to show all the bits and bobbles yet. I prefer vague plot details, cool shots, and an overall vibe within a trailer. Now, when it comes to the Friendship trailer, it had me stumped. What I read about the genre stumped me even more. Based solely on the trailer, I would’ve assumed that the movie was a drama of sorts. But no. I was told comedy.
Now, my history with comedies is rocky at best. They are almost never the genre I choose to put on, simply because they don’t often make me laugh. To be fair, movies that I find funny also don’t make me laugh. (I’ve always been envious of people who gutturally laugh when they watch movies; they sound like they’re having so much fun. Anyways, I digress.) When it comes to comedies, I have always preferred more wry and deadpan humor. I think of movies like Bodies, Bodies, Bodies (2022) or Napoleon Dynamite (2004). The trailer for Friendship instilled in me hope that the movie would be a comedy, but a comedy with more to offer than slapstick and fart jokes. And I was ready to watch.
One thing about me is I am a cringer. I get uncomfortable. I may even find myself squirming. Not because of gore, or anything creepy or crawly; what I cannot stand is awkward situations where people are so obviously making a fool of themselves. Think secondhand embarrassment. This involuntary dread ingrained in me is the reason that I found Friendship to be one of the hardest watches I have ever seen. And I loved every second of it. I was somewhat familiar with Tim Robinson before this film, and the type of comedy his sketches tended to be, but boy oh boy, I could never have prepared myself for what I was about to see on the screen.
In Friendship, Tim Robinson plays Craig, a narcissistic father and husband who becomes more and more absentee after obsessing over his new neighbor, Austin, played by Paul Rudd. Craig views Austin on a pedestal that is made of gold and encrusted with diamonds (and probably surrounded by rock musicians playing flaming instruments). Austin is a dad who has everything together, from his weatherman job to his beautiful family, and Craig is willingly to forget everything about his life to tag along, even if only for a moment. Now, with a concept like this, I feel as though it could be easy for the film to feel wandering and lackluster, but DeYoung did not let that happen for a moment. You watch every single second and every single decision Craig makes within the film like one would watch a dumpster fire. It’s terrible and ugly, but you can’t help but watch the disaster unfold. I feel that isn’t a fair analogy however, because although Craig’s actions, yes, are terrible, there is nothing ugly about the way that this film looks. The editing was a masterpiece. DeYoung chose to shed whatever preconceived ideas surround comedy films editing style in the past and construct the film to be a gorgeous unraveling of a fragile man. And the best part… I laughed out loud! Albeit, it wasn’t guttural, but I’m new to laughing at movies, I think I’ll get there eventually.
It would be a crime to finish this review without mentioning the wonderful lead performance of Kate Mara as Robinson’s wife, Tami, especially being that I could not get her out of my head the entire film. At the start of the movie, Tami discusses beating cancer as her husband claims the feat as a joint effort. She also reveals she has been unable to have an orgasm for a long time, and it isn’t until later in the film when Craig loses her in an aqueduct that she is able to reach climax. Cold, lost, but most of all, without her husband. I think the biggest part of the film that made it such a “hard watch” was Craig’s oblivious buffoonery juxtaposed against Tami’s fed-up and serious nature.
In totality, Friendship is a fantastic addition to A24’s now-vast catalogue, and a film that goes against anything I believed about comedy films, or my own capability of laughter in a theater. Every second was captivating, both narratively and visually, and it still makes me chuckle to think that Robinson’s first thought after Mara left him was to lick a psychedelic toad sold to him by a minor in the back of a Verizon-equivalent. Thank you Tim Robinson, Paul Rudd, and Kate Mara for your outstanding portrayals in this one-sided pissing contest. I had a blast.
Friendship gets five Subway sandwiches out of five!
