Friendship
Average suburban guy, Craig (Tim Robinson) meets his new neighbor, Austin (Paul Rudd), a local weatherman oozing charisma as the quintessential of cool. But when their single serving friendship comes to an abrupt halt, it’s anyone’s guess just how far Craig will go to hold on.
Written and Directed by Andrew DeYoung, this slip stream cult classic, leans heavily into the comedic stylings of Robinson and his knack for the awkward, absurd, and down right uncomfortable; an acquired taste which may be hard to swallow on first watch, but, similar to Napoleon Dynamite (2004), has potential to become an instantly quotable celebration of all things bromance gone sour. Meanwhile, performance from Rudd is hauntingly familiar to his time as the intrepid field reporter and ladies man Brian Fantana in Anchorman (2004), no stretches were made in the making of this film. That is to say, the cringe factor of this film is comedically high which inevitably won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but for those who are familiar with and enjoy Robinson’s body of work, the result is limitless, and particularly re-watchable. Tonally the film does seem to lack some direction, but then again, thanks to both Robinson and Rudd’s ability to pivot on a dime, this seems to go largely unchecked. This weekend, enter the slip stream and find the absurd, running one hour and forty minutes, Friendship is rated R.