By Robert Scucci
| Published
The topic of male loneliness is often discussed but never fully defined, which isn’t really useful for those men who are desperately trying to find connection in an increasingly isolating world. Thankfully, we have black comedies like 2024’s Friendship to pull the curtain back and fully explore just how far some men are willing to go to overcome that “empty forever” feeling that’s gnawing away at their core every single day.
By illustrating how an unchecked sense of existential dread in one’s search for community can quickly spiral out of control despite their good intentions, Friendship is a masterclass in cringe humor that can only be convincingly delivered by the on-screen relationship between Tim Robinson’s Craig Waterman and Paul Rudd’s Austin Carmichael.
Unhealthy Detachment Turns Into Equally Unhealthy Attachment
Friendship wastes no time establishing its central conflict in Craig Waterman’s sense of detachment from his family, his job, and just about everything else. Working as a marketing executive for a company that exists solely to keep people addicted to their phones, Craig is going through the motions as his wife Tami’s flower business begins to flourish after she beats cancer.
One question that doesn’t necessarily get answered, however, is, “Was Craig always like this?” Or have the last couple of years of his life pushed him into the apathetic state that he finds himself in?
After all, his house is for sale, and while he seems to be good at his high-prestige job, he doesn’t seem to have any working buddies. His homelife has disintegrated, resulting in Tami’s affair with her ex-boyfriend, Devon, which materialized some time before the events in Friendship take place.
Upon hitting it off with his new neighbor, Austin, Craig sees an idealized version of himself in his new friend and develops an unhealthy, one-sided obsession with their budding relationship.
Wearing Out His Welcome
At first, Craig is infatuated by Austin, a well-to-do TV meteorologist who’s primed for adventure, plays in a punk band, and has a “go get ‘em” attitude that anybody in their right mind would want to emulate. But since Craig is a fictionalized version of Tim Robinson, he quickly wears out his welcome by awkwardly and aggressively overstepping the boundaries of a common, casual, neighborly friendship.
Not picking up on the social cues that Austin is throwing down, Craig’s behavior escalates. His misguided quest for male companionship takes priority over his personal and professional life, which rapidly deteriorates.
Slapstick With A Side Of Sadness
Friendship can easily be described as a cross between I Think You Should Leave and I Love You, Man, but with a lot more emotional baggage beneath its surface. Tim Robinson’s uncanny ability to immediately and effortlessly make everybody uncomfortable through his inability to read the room plays beautifully against Paul Rudd’s never-ending ability to charm everybody in the same room, no matter how uncomfortable things actually get.
While Friendship has fun pivoting from jovial levity to uncomfortable existential angst without warning, it spends a considerable amount of time occupying those grey areas where you’ll find a man who is lost, and screaming into the void in search of a meaningful connection that falls just beyond his grasp.
As of this writing, Friendship is available on-demand through YouTube, Prime Video, and Apple TV+.
