A sharply uncomfortable comedy about male loneliness, social desperation, and the humiliations of trying too hard to connect. It’s funniest when it plays Craig’s neediness dead straight, then lets the situation spiral into absurd, cringe-heavy chaos.
51% ★★★☆☆ (486,992)
Friendship
Where to watch: Max
Movie · Comedy · Drama · R
2025 · 1h 40m · ★ 51% (487K)
Men shouldn't have friends.
Director: Andrew DeYoung
Starring: Tim Robinson, Paul Rudd, Kate Mara
Overview
Suburban dad Craig falls hard for his charismatic new neighbor Austin, and his attempts to make an adult male friend threatens to ruin both of their lives.
Director
Andrew DeYoung
Production
BoulderLight Pictures, Fifth Season, Friends Night
Cast
Tim Robinson, Paul Rudd, Kate Mara, Jack Dylan Grazer, Rick Worthy, Whitmer Thomas, Daniel London, Eric Rahill, Jacob Ming-Trent, Billy Bryk, Meredith Garretson, Ari Dalbert, Josh Segarra, Raphael Sbarge, Omar Torres, Jason Veasey, Jon Glaser, Carmen Christopher, Mike J. Mills, Alex Webb
Where to watch
Max
Curator Review
Verdict
A sharply uncomfortable comedy about male loneliness, social desperation, and the humiliations of trying too hard to connect. It’s funniest when it plays Craig’s neediness dead straight, then lets the situation spiral into absurd, cringe-heavy chaos.
Best for
fans of cringe comedy and social humiliation humor
viewers who like dark comedies about loneliness and masculinity
people who enjoy awkward, escalating character disasters
audiences open to a mix of suburban realism and surreal comic energy
Skip if
you dislike secondhand embarrassment or aggressive cringe humor
you want warm, conventional friendship-comedy sentiment
you prefer broad jokes over painfully specific behavioral comedy
you are put off by characters making everything worse through bad decisions
Overview
Friendship is a brutally funny portrait of a man who mistakes proximity for connection and confidence for charisma. It takes a painfully ordinary suburban setup and turns it into a study of social panic, ego, and the desperate need to belong. The comedy is rooted in embarrassment, but the movie keeps finding fresh ways to make that embarrassment feel both absurd and weirdly human.
Worth noting
Tim Robinson’s performance is the engine: every interaction feels like it could collapse into disaster, and often does. Paul Rudd plays beautifully against that chaos, giving the film a smooth surface that makes the spirals around him even funnier. The result is less a conventional buddy comedy than a cringe-fueled descent into the emotional hazards of adult male friendship.
Bottom line
What makes it stick is that the movie never treats Craig’s need as trivial. Under the jokes is a real ache about isolation, status, and the fragile rituals men use to avoid admitting they’re lonely. It’s sharp, nasty, and frequently hilarious, with just enough empathy to keep the discomfort from curdling into pure mean-spiritedness.
Top Letterboxd reviews
eddyburback · 17948 likes
a true horror about how devastating it is to be a dude who can’t hang
MP Hayes (4★) · 15608 likes
What if you did a bad bit and it ruined your fucking life
Erik (5★) · 12309 likes
We should still be in Afghanistan.
jsamine (5★) · 9691 likes
Tim Robinson’s take on The Banshees of Inisherin and it’s so awesome
2009 · Comedy, Drama · 1h 46m · R · ★ 80% (370.5K)
A bleakly comic portrait of a man whose attempts to impose order only deepen his humiliation.
Themes
male loneliness, adult friendship, social awkwardness, cringe comedy, suburban malaise, masculinity, ego and insecurity, desperate connection
Topics
cringe comedy, dark comedy, suburban satire, male loneliness, awkward social behavior, character study, social humiliation, absurdist humor, midlife crisis, indie comedy