Friendship

(Directed by Andrew DeYoung, 2025)

Tim Robinson is well known for his surreal and sublime ventures into the Theatre of Embarrassment, and so TVC was keen to see him in this full-length feature, co-starring the always amusingly watchable Paul Rudd (Clueless, Anchorman, Wanderlust). Robinson is not about comedy; he is about counter-comedy, and although we do not rate this as a comedy film, it is true that its many stalking moments of deranged high anxiety drew forth the kind of bodily vibrations that presage laughter. In fact, the film is quite dark (shades of Dream Scenario, Wiener Dog and David Brent: Life on the Road) and it finds a kind of truth within its absurd and often pointless perigrinations.

Robinson’s character, Craig Waterman, is a man ‘on the spectrum’, who invents digital applications that foster dependency upon the user of products. He is not liked at work, and somehow, deep down, intuits that he is losing his wife (Kate Mara) and son (Jack Dylan Grazer). A mis-delivered package leads him to meet new neighbour, Austin Carmichael (Rudd), a cool if D-list local celebrity. Austin likes adventure and Craig is swept along by his charm, ‘hangin’ with Austin and his ‘pals’. Until Craig hangs himself, so to speak.

If you’ve ever been unlucky enough to be dumped by a mate you always considered a friend, it can be brutal. Like addictive Apps. But you’ve got to keep moving forward. Craig doesn’t move forward: he moves up, down, out and sideways, sometimes simultaneously. It’s a fascinating freak-show but ultimately, it doesn’t wholly convince, either as a bromance or a break-up film. It is too incongruous, like Craig’s wardrobe.

The film is enthralling none-the-less, and random scenes, such as an hallucinatory moment at Subway, are vivid, but with so many ideas thrown into the mix, the result is more sludge than surrealism. (There’s even a Chekhov’s Gun moment!) Memo to the crew: Surrealism had rules, even if they were denied. But we did like the very end, when the film’s principals knowingly share a private and intimate secret.