Conversely, there’s a comedy like “Friendship,” which is well-edited by Sophie Corra, nicely shot by Andy Rydzewski, and competently acted by Paul Rudd. As a weatherman being stalked by Craig (Tim Robinson), an unhinged neighbor who desperately wants to be his friend, Rudd does his best with the lackluster material he’s given.
None of these positive assets matter, because this film has exactly one funny moment in it. I was the only person at my screening to laugh; again, that speaks to the subjectiveness of comedy. Unfortunately, this is also a cringe comedy film, which means the humor requires you to react a certain way. If you aren’t disturbed or discomfited, the jokes are even less amusing.
Fans of the hit Netflix sketch show, “I Think You Should Leave With Tim Robinson,” will recognize the type of character Robinson plays. The actor specializes in surreal situations involving characters who make life uncomfortable for others and, by extension, elicits cringes from the viewer. The episodes, which can be quite amusing in spots, run just under 20 minutes. By comparison, this movie is 5 times as long and has just one laugh.
Robinson’s character, Craig, is an apparent loner with a wife, Tami (Kate Mara), and a teenage son, Steven (Jack Dylan Grazer). Tami sends her husband to a get-together thrown by their new neighbor, Austin (Rudd). The two men briefly met earlier, when Craig brought Austin a package erroneously delivered to his house. There’s an immediate spark of bromance in Craig’s eye, and who can blame him? It’s Paul Rudd!
Since Craig is a Tim Robinson character, we expect his attempts to bond with Austin to go awry in over-the-top fashion. And you can see most of those moments in the trailer, including a scene that ruins the classic Ghost Town DJs ’90s-era banger, “My Boo.”
Eventually, Austin decides Craig is too much trouble and ends their burgeoning friendship. This decision turns Craig into a jealous stalker. He shows up at Austin’s morning show gig and has fantasies about saving his life. He even breaks into Austin’s house, stealing his gun in the process. What was it that Chekhov said about guns that appear in the first act?
Unlike his Netflix show, Robinson didn’t write “Friendship” —Andrew DeYoung writes and directs. However, I’ve seen this film being touted as a feature-length version of a Tim Robinson sketch, and therein lies the problem. There is not enough material, characterization, or plot in a 10-minute sketch to sustain an entire movie.
Stretching out the runtime defeats the entire purpose of a sketch’s length. Just think about the endless series of terrible “Saturday Night Live” sketch movies that we got a few decades ago. Stuff like “It’s Pat” and “The Ladies Man” stunk up theaters because they turned a 5-minute joke into a movie. Despite being more ambitious in scope, “Friendship” commits the same sin.
Robinson’s dedicated commitment to the bit is a given, but the bit is so one-dimensional that Craig stops being believable or human. He’s just an empty plot device that screams “what off-putting, nonsensical thing can I do that will upset the viewer?”
I didn’t cringe while watching any of Craig’s behavior, because this movie is too afraid to go anywhere dangerous. I’ve seen this film compared to “Fatal Attraction,” but that would require at least a hint of a sexual or romantic component, which this film wouldn’t touch with a 10-foot pole.
The cynical tagline on the poster says “men shouldn’t be friends,” but the reason isn’t the fear of platonic love being misinterpreted by outsiders as romantic, or even the heteronormative nonsense that makes some guys believe that sharing their feelings with their pals is somehow gay.
Those misguided ideas are rooted in a reality that can be mined for discomfort. All “Friendship” offers is a ChatGPT version of a human being desperately seeking camaraderie for no discernible or believable reason. I kept asking myself why anyone would want to be around him in the first place, let alone marry him. DeYoung misses a ripe opportunity to use Tami as a means of grounding Craig in some semblance of reality.
Despite my disdain, I sincerely hope that if you see this movie, you’ll laugh more than I did. You don’t deserve the aggravation I felt after leaving the theater.
★½
FRIENDSHIP
Written and directed by Andrew DeYoung. Starring Tim Robinson, Paul Rudd, Kate Mara. At Coolidge Corner, AMC Boston Common, Landmark Kendall Square. 100 min. R (profanities yelled on both sides of the screen)
Odie Henderson is the Boston Globe’s film critic.
