Friendship or Fiasco? A Cringe Comedy That Sometimes Clicks

I have to be honest, when I first saw the trailer for the new comedy Friendship, I didn’t think it was real. I thought it looked like a fake SNL commercial, but to my surprise, it turned out to be totally legit. This was an actual movie slated to play in actual theaters, and after having such an odd experience with the trailer, I just had to see it. If nothing else, the film had piqued my curiosity, so when tickets went on sale, I booked a seat for the earliest screening I could make. I had no idea if the movie would be any good, but I knew one thing–I couldn’t wait to find out.

Friendship was written and directed by Andrew DeYoung, and it stars Tim Robinson, Kate Mara, Jack Dylan Grazer, and Paul Rudd. In the film, Craig Waterman is a bit socially awkward, but he appears to lead a fairly typical suburban life. He has a wife, a son, and a good job, so from the outside looking in, this guy seems like he should be happy. However, his life isn’t quite as in order as you might think. His wife has recently rekindled her friendship with an old boyfriend, and to make matters worse, Craig doesn’t have any friends of his own.

But things begin to change when he meets Austin, a quirkily cool man who just moved into town. The two hit it off immediately, and as they start to hang out more, Craig slowly becomes enamored with his new friend. He thinks Austin is just the coolest guy around, but his world comes crashing down when Austin invites him to a boys’ night with his other friends. Craig does something incredibly stupid that destroys their relationship, and without his pal by his side, the man’s life begins to disintegrate.

As you might be able to guess from that plot synopsis, Friendship is hardcore cringe comedy that tries to make you squirm so hard you can’t help but laugh. Craig combines the happy-go-lucky “dumb dad” personality of Family Guy’s Peter Griffin with the social skills (or lack thereof) of Michael Scott from The Office, and the results are just as awkward as you’d expect.

Even before he meets Austin, this guy is constantly putting his foot in his mouth in the most embarrassing ways possible, and when his life takes a turn for the worse, he doesn’t do himself any favors. He becomes even more cringeworthy as his world crumbles around him, so he’s essentially stuck in a vicious cycle with no discernible way out.

Aside from those squirm-inducing gags, there’s not much to Friendship. The script doesn’t give these characters enough depth to elicit anything more than decent performances from the cast, and the story follows the typical comedy track of being little more than an excuse to showcase the movie’s sense of humor. It stands or falls entirely on its ability to make audiences laugh, and if you ask me, it’s only partially successful.

On the one hand, I smiled and laughed out loud a number of times throughout this excruciating exercise in comedic discomfort, and one scene in particular (it involves a bar of soap) might’ve even had me literally rolling on the floor if my seat didn’t have armrests. But on the flipside, Friendship also has a ton of jokes that just didn’t work for me. In fact, as much as I loved some of the humor, the majority of the gags fell pretty flat in my estimation, and that’s fatal for  a film like this.

Like any true comedy, Friendship is absolutely saturated with jokes, so unless it makes you laugh consistently throughout its 100-minute runtime, the unfunny humor is going to kill the experience. It’ll make the movie feel like a tiresome slog with tiny oases of hilarity every now and then, and that’s exactly what happened to me.

To be fair, there’s enough good in this film that I don’t think I wasted my time watching it, but I have no desire to ever see it again. If I want to laugh, there are plenty of other movies that will do the job much more effectively, including a few that came out earlier this year (like Novocaine and There’s Still Tomorrow), so if you ask me, I suggest giving Friendship a pass and getting your kicks somewhere else.