Friendship Review

May 16, 2025 at 6:54pm
By Jason Stettner

Male friendship sort of sucks, or at least that’s the idea proposed in the movie Friendship. It comes across as an extended sketch of Tim Robinson’s but works more effectively from my perspective. There is a certain element where the comedy leans into what you might be familiar with, but for me I actually enjoyed it much more than I had the prior sketch segments on the Netflix Original series “I Think You Should Leave”.

Anyways, to focus on the experience let’s dive into the film and what it has to offer. This movie follows Craig (Tim Robinson) as he explores male friendship after a chance meeting with Austin (Paul Rudd). It’s like a romance of sorts almost as you see a dim world begin to glow brightly all thanks to handing over a package sent to the wrong house.

It’s an interesting premise and with the comedy hitting fairly effectively you might underestimate the interesting commentary on what it’s like for males as they age to meet other people and gain friends. Of course, this is in the context of a wacky and surreal series of events. My favorite being this bizarre trip to Subway, this makes when you watch it and you’ll know exactly why I mentioned this bit.

It’s a fairly streamlined experience with a focus on particular places as the backdrops to the drama happening with the characters. As mentioned it’s sort of framed from an almost relationship like story where the obsession and desire for male friendship slowly grows. With that, the environments are pretty simplistic and often realistic.

It’s very much focused on the characters and the dynamics. I do wish they would have built more upon the surrounding male groups but this was very much a Craig driven adventure. Still, some of the smaller visited areas were neat and it paints the life of this character effectively enough. The performances also feel right where they need to be.

Craig being a dim app addiction pushing worker at the start, Austin being a channeled Anchorman weather man and also Tami (Kate Mara) being a sort of out of it wife to Craig. It’s quite amazing that actors in comedies are able to keep things flowing without breaking character as some moments here truly were ridiculous.

The Conclusion

Friendship is certainly funny, feeling like a long sketch with pacing that makes the movie just flow by with enjoyment being had the whole ride through. I wasn’t really sure what to expect here as the past comedy from the Tim Robinson sketches didn’t fully connect but here it really did work for me. I found it largely funny and also appreciated the story. It was quite wild, and almost predictable in seeing this growing glow from Craig.

This wondrous man wandered into his life with magical moments and cool hobbies, again something we seen in romantic stories constantly. It’s also neat how this relationship evolves over the story and it felt like a complete tale for one wild character. Overall I had some good laughs, I had enjoyed the movie and it flowed by easily making it a pleasurable experience well beyond my initial expectations.

Friendship Review at Theater with Standard Viewing
Screening Provided by VVS Films

Rating Overall: 7.4