Sometimes the funniest people know. I’ll never forget during an interview, Bill Hader was asked about the new SNL cast and who he was most interested in. Without really hesitating, he mentioned Tim Robinson made him crack up almost every time. Though Robinson was a one and done r at SNL, Hader proved prophetic. Robinson has become a comedic force, bringing his Z shirts to the variety sensation I Think You Should Leave, building a super devoted zip line loving fan base especially since the pandemic. Those people will be all over the theater you see Friendship in; so if you’re in sync with their rhythms, this movie’s gonna work for you. If not, well, it’s gonna be a LONG hour and a half.
Craig Waterman (Tim Robinson) certainly thinks he’s living a good life. He would say he’s fulfilled with a decent corporate job, with a beautiful wife Tami (Kate Mara) in remission from cancer, really growing her flower business, and a loving son Steven (Jack Dylan Grazer). But a simple package mishap untaps a longing he didn’t know he had in the form of new neighbor Austin Carmichael (Paul Rudd). Austin opens Craig’s world to the concept of a life of pals, with cool activities, interesting jobs, and emotional male bonding. Unfortunately, a poor interaction threatens those dreams, which Craig hopes to remedy…in the worst ways possible.
Friendship is a really bad title for this movie. But I don’t think “Journey Into the Brain of a Madman” would work either, but at least be more accurate. This is a movie framed entirely inside Craig’s head, as he goes about his day to day living. What blissful ignorance he has found for his life, unaware of all the snide remarks and truly piercing looks, especially from Tami and Steven, the two people he loves most besides himself. Austin’s presence ups the fantasy/delusion even further, conjuring Craig’s desire to be a big part of Austin’s life. But for a maniac like Craig, the minute things don’t go his way, and he finds out Austin is living his life without Craig involved, it’s too much for the thin skinned dude to take. The movie uses comedy to push the behavior further and further toward it’s logical conclusion. That boundary pushing flirts with the line enough for the jokes to fall flat, making the last 30 minutes anguish inducingly painful, spinning its wheels until we get to 90 minutes.
But if you’re on the Tim Robinson train, this is gonna be a hell of a ride. We get all the weapons in his arsenal here. My favorites are the faces he can conjure when he’s not speaking: there’s a garage sequence in the trailer as we see Craig’s face figure out what’s going on and slowly embrace it, the hardest I’ve laughed in a theater this year because of all the specific weird choices the movie is making. We get dubious Robinson, trying to elicit enthusiasm from his indifferent family to see “a Marvel” or wide eyed psychotic imagining himself as part of Austin’s band. And of course we get cranky angry Tim, resorting to yelling as more and more people don’t comply with the choices he wants them to make, like the pitch from hell to the mayor at his job. Most emblematic of the Tim Robinson experience is an under the city adventure with Kate Mara (a surprising gem in this). This is a masterclass from the talented funny man, using a previous scene and changing the tenure because of the circumstances, slowly broadly escalating the stakes and twisting the emotions in darker, more funny ways, escalating to the logical end point with a snap cut that ends in a hysterical yelling match between the key players with a perfect punchline.
I hope Friendship does well enough to give Tim Robinson more bites at the apple. He’s got his thing, and based on the stoked crowd in the theater I was in, the audience is ready and waiting for it. Pay It Forward 2 perhaps? You could even get the Haley Joel Osment ghost cameo with it.