Friendship review: Tim Robinson and Paul Rudd are unlikely buddies in awkward, cringe comedy

You’ve heard it before. Women sit facing each other and men sit next to each other.

Whether it’s on bar stools or on the couch, men often sit shoulder-to-shoulder, watching sports, talking about sports, and talking about watching sports.

That might be slightly reductive but there is more than a kernel of truth in it, and it’s why in so many western societies, we’re being confronted with a male friendship epidemic, which manifests in other kinds of problems including loneliness, resentment and mental health challenges.

It is hard to make friends as adults, and for men, who are conditioned from a young age to never be open, it’s even more difficult, especially deep connections that are forged by sharing your vulnerabilities with another.

Friendship, starring comedian Tim Robinson and the very charismatic Paul Rudd, approaches this in an off-beat and cringe but very funny way.

Written and directed by Andrew DeYoung, Robinson is the driver here, at least when it comes to vibes. If you’re familiar with his work either on Saturday Night Live or his sketch series I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson, you’d know that his whole thing is discomfort.

That’s Craig Waterman, the lead character of Friendship, which Robinson imbues with so much awkwardness that he is, for lack of a better term, a pathetic loser. One of the film’s enduring mysteries is why his wife Tami (Kate Mara) married him. Just, why?

Craig works as a marketing guy for a company whose raison d’etre is to make apps more addictive. Craig meets new neighbour Austin (Rudd) and is immediately taken in by his natural charm – and who hasn’t been by Rudd?

Austin is warm and inviting, and pushes Craig to do new things when he invites him on an adventure beneath the city in its secret tunnel system, ending up at City Hall after hours, drinking beer from its balcony and taking in the vista.

Austin is a meteorologist for the local TV channel, plays in a band (although not well) and just seems to have an easier time with life.

Whereas Craig is shunned by his colleagues, often says the wrong thing and can’t stop talking about buying all his clothes from what looks to be some kind of Lowes-equivalent brand.

Still, the two become friends, until an incident during a group hang casts Craig out the group. He grows increasingly desperate, especially as he and Tami aren’t connecting.

When Craig apes Austin by taking Tami on the same tunnel trip, or makes his son go mushroom picking like Austin did with him, it comes off as lame.

Craig’s choices are bewildering, his actions are often off-putting and he can be - just like Robinson’s comedy - abrasive. He is not for everyone but the film smartly positions Craig as someone who is, mostly, harmless, and still deserving of friendship.

You just personally wouldn’t want to be friends with him. It doesn’t mean you don’t have compassion for him, but he is someone whose presence makes you deeply uncomfortable. Don’t invite that guy to a party, he is guaranteed to kill the mood.

DeYoung and Robinson have a knack for marrying the two things – repulsion and empathy – and bringing the funny, even if you’re not always sure whether you’re laughing with or at Craig. But laugh you will, and a lot.

Friendship doesn’t necessarily have profound insights into why men – or maybe just men like Craig – can’t seem to make friends, but it definitely rings true in that everyone needs somebody.

Rating: 3/5

Friendship is in cinemas