Friendship review: if your love is strong, gonna give my all to you

Tim Robinson (the star of new A24 release Friendship) may be one of the funniest comedians of our time – but even as one of his biggest fans, I’ll admit his shtick isn’t for everyone.

After going under the radar as as a writer and performer on Saturday Night Live for about four years, Robinson created and starred in his own absurd sitcom Detroiters, before becoming a viral sensation and household name with the sketch series I Think You Should Leave (which you can, and should, watch on Netflix).

From a man dressed as a hot dog who crashes his hot dog-themed car into a store and attempts to blame someone else, to a guy who just doesn’t understand why he can’t talk about ‘horse cocks’ at an after-dark ghost tour, Robinson’s sketches are as hilarious as they are difficult to watch.

By carving out a niche in making cringeworthy characters and putting them in increasingly off-putting situations, Robinson’s conceit is transparent but endlessly reworkable. And it turns out that brand transfers easily to film – as exemplified in Andrew DeYoung’s anti-buddy comedy Friendship.

Watch the trailer for Friendship:

A fast Friendship

Starting with the simple concept of ‘awkward guy meets charismatic guy and yearns for his approval’, Friendship takes you on a film journey that is impossible to predict. Robinson plays Craig Waterman, an unremarkable suburban husband and father who works as a marketing executive (specifically in the department of making products more ‘addictive’).

He, his wife Tami (Kate Mara) and their son Steven are preparing to sell their home and move towns, when a sudden chance encounter brings the quirky Austin Carmichael (Paul Rudd) into their orbit.

As far as meet-cutes go, this one is pretty frosty (and I’m not just talking about snow), but the undeniably warm spark of possibility lingers, and it’s not long before Craig and Austin are clinking cold ones and forming a fast bond.

Austin is a meteorologist at the local news station who enjoys playing punk rock, boxing and listening to classic records in his spare time. This is a classic Paul Rudd archetype: a charming, handsome dude whose undercurrent of narcissism somehow makes his appeal even stronger.

These things already make him stand in stark contrast to Craig, who dresses strictly in brown, is faltering in his marriage, and has no hobbies to speak of. But despite the chalk-and-cheese nature of the two men, they both have shared experiences of being frustrated with life and work.

Austin reveals that he also has some more, well, unusual hobbies. Next thing he knows, Craig is being led under the suburbs via a series of connected tunnels that Austin tells him will lead to something worthwhile. Sure enough, despite staining his pants in the sewer water and losing a shoe (which encompasses a fascinating study of Robinson’s ultra-boring character), Craig emerges on the other side with Austin at a secret lookout point.

In a matter of hours, Craig is smitten with his new friend, and has a a rapidly developing need to emulate every thing that he does.

At night, I think of you

Naturally, that endeavour does not go well for Craig. That much at least we can smell coming from a mile away. After all, Craig is a Tim Robinson character: a guy who desperately wants to be accepted and loved, but is burdened by a complete misunderstanding of social rules, and is irrevocably compelled to do strange shit.

It’s tough to watch, but stick it through and you’ll be rewarded with many a belly laugh and unforgettable scenes.

Pairing up Craig’s archetype – which is well-trod ground for Robinson and certainly no stretch of his acting ability – with Rudd’s natural charms is a winning formula for Friendship. Austin is also just mean enough to make us maintain empathy with Craig, whose wife clearly hates him, and whose work colleagues leave quickly whenever they see him approaching.

Despite the obviously ill-advised obsession Craig has with Austin – which leads to stalking, breaking and entering, and hallucinogenic drug trips to name a few things – we still kinda want him to win. Austin let him in too fast! What was he supposed to do‽

The resulting narrative is like if The Banshees of Inisherin and Homer Loves Flanders (The Simpsons, S5 E16) had a baby – and that baby dressed in a beige parka from Ocean View Dining. It is both a response to the ‘male loneliness epidemic’ and a study of a psyche with a total lack of self awareness.

And therein lies the magic of Tim Robinson. His characters are always bizarre, alien-like personas that take everybody’s most feared social faux-pas and dial them up to eleven. When we watch him bumbling about the world, we cringe both in embarrassment and recognition.

After all, who wouldn’t want to be friends with – or perhaps even be – Paul Rudd?

Friendship is now showing in Australian cinemas.

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