Craig is glad to make friends with his neighbor, but when he oversteps boundaries, the friendship is called off, and his life disintegrates in the uncomfortably hilarious Friendship, written and directed by Andrew DeYoung.
It’s hard to make friends as an adult. People are often locked into their circles and interests, revolving around their families and pasts, or even just finding the time in busy days to hang out and truly make a connection. For a sadsack schlub like Tim Robinson’s Craig is it’s even worse; when he meets the vibrant Austin, Paul Rudd bringing the Brian Fantana Charm, he’s smitten. But it falls apart, and Craig will not let his new friend go, causing everything to implode in Andrew DeYoung’s dark comedy Friendship.
While Friendship is DeYoung’s feature film debut, he has a long history in television. In particular, DeYoung has previously directed episodes of Our Flag Means Death and Pen15, showing an understanding of creating a flow of understanding awkwardness of strange people, mining humor without becoming crass or mean. Knowing when and how to toe that line is a great skill of restraint. In his writing and directing of Friendship, he crafts layered characters, situations, and relationships, but one that never becomes unwieldy or lost in going for a Big Moment over a character note, even in some directly absurd moments. Character drives Friendship.
Craig is an unlikeable person, but as the lead character, we have to spend our time with him, so he can’t be too grating, even if that nature is what compels the film. The draw is watching Craig make those terrible choices and ruin everything around him; or heck, already at half ruined. His wife and son barely talk to him, his work associates don’t loop him into anything, and he doesn’t seem to have much going on anywhere. He’s lonely.
Let’s be clear, Craig is also a narcissist. Yes, it’s a word and accusation tossed around glibly in the modern era, but it makes him a fascinating person to follow, as a protagonist in his story, but perhaps far more of an antagonist in the wider eye. In a reversal of the similar plotted The Cable Guy or What About Bob, which both follow the target, DeYoung chooses to follow Craig, distorting actions, character, interactions, conversations, and the world around him. He’s self-centered, egotistical, and tends to ignore anything else outside of his self-designed circle, but unlike many narcissists, he has no charisma; thus, when Austin reaches out a hand, he grabs on and won’t let go. We scream inward, we see Craig’s missteps as he gets closer and closer to going past the acceptable point of control, and the fallout of it.
It’s a great dynamic; a strength in character writing in performance in the audience seeing the layers or truths underneath what’s presented as his life; in many aspects, things may be better than he perceives, and in other ways far worse. DeYoung is wonderfully subtle in the creation, the slips, and how the film shifts over the runtime as Craig’s outlook changes.
Tim Robinson is fantastic as Craig. He’s able to garner a laugh from just a look. I’ve not seen I Think You Should Leave, but I hear the awkward cringe sort of humor in Friendship is translated from the show. And this role was written with Robinson in mind, allowing Robinson to dig into his strengths. Robinson can garner a level of sympathy, to start with at least, despite his foibles and pushiness, and obvious need to be focused on. He’s the kid who was the “class clown” but was never funny, a little bit of a bully but not wholly, but making his attempts at getting a laugh in desperation. Kudos to Robinson for reigning in, keeping Craig within reach, to keep following. It would be too easy to go the Adam Sandler route to create someone so annoying, barely containing the urge to strangle him.
Paul Rudd, as the other half of the equation, is similarly strong. He plays Austin with a roguish charm, but a broken one. Austin is fully developed, with the character deepening as the audience sees what Craig might never realize. Building on the subtitles of character choices and how DeYoung approaches in writing and directing, Austin is a seeping sort of shift.
DeYoung allows it all to seep in, a graduation, a realization of dynamics. The friendship of the title is a strong push, but DeYoung opens the world, shifting said dynamic to Kate Mara’s long-suffering wife Tami, her cancer in remission and well-loved, but Craig can barely see her as more than a reflection of his wants. When the friendship falls apart, their barely holding marriage cracks further, perhaps held together by their teenage son, played by It’s Jack Dylan Grazer, but made worse when his insecurities cause her to receive all the attention. DeYoung never goes the easy route for character, laughs, or plot points. Friendship is a sort of feature where you say, “In a more formulaic film, X would be the catalyst for a plot arc,” and you are glad it didn’t follow that thread. Beautifully controlled.
Friendship, with strong writing and character work, is a fantastic comedy of awkward interactions and relationships, or lack thereof. Andrew DeYoung, in writing and direction, creates a layered world of people seeking, or breaking, connections and how it affects them. Led by terrific performances by Tim Robinson and Paul Rudd, seek out a Friendship with this film.