Tim Robinson and Paul Rudd forge a bond through sewage, psychedelics, and suburban despair
By James Verniere/ Boston Movie News
Written and directed by Andrew DeYoung (TV’s “Would It Kill You to Laugh?”), “Friendship” is the most uniquely chaotic buddy comedy of recent memory. And those of you who don’t know who actor-comedian and Netflix star Tim Robinson is are going to find out big time when you see this film.
If our current existential state is constantly hovering on the verge of a nervous breakdown, Robinson’s Craig Waterman, a geeky, unstable, suburban husband and father, is that condition’s tragic antihero. Saddled with a meaningless job that he desperately needs (and is constantly close to losing) and married to a woman so out of his league that it’s giving him nightmares, Craig is a hero for our times.
In between wondering why his very tall adolescent son Steven (Jack Dylan Grazer, “It Chapter Two”) and his wife Tami (Kate Mara), Steven’s mother, kiss each other on the lips, Craig receives a package in the mail that is meant for his new neighbor Austin Carmichael (Paul Rudd, also an executive producer). When Craig and Austin meet, sparks fly. Austin is the humble, homespun, but also hip morning meteorologist on the local TV station. Craig, who dresses entirely in loser-beige, is in bro heaven. Austin is funny. He plays guitar in a punk band and welcomes nerdy Craig into his circle.
In opening scenes at a cancer support group, Tami tells others in the group that she has been cancer-free for 12 months and wonders if she “will ever have another orgasm.” Her husband, Craig, peevishly assures the others that he always has an orgasm. Craig is fond of superhero films, which he refers to as “Marvels” (Screw you, D.C.). Austin takes Craig on a (symbolic?) journey through a muddy, leaking sewer that ends at City Hall, a bro rite of passage that Craig will repeat disastrously with his wife.
Austin teaches Craig, who is assigned to handle the town’s mayor’s reelection campaign, how to gather mushrooms in the forest. What could go wrong? Craig orders a vintage drum kit. At a gathering of Austin’s male buddies, Craig demolishes a glass sliding door with his forehead. He and Austin don boxing gear. Will Craig’s secret resentment of Austin emerge? Tami is a florist, and when she works on an arrangement, we always get a close-up of a bloom resembling lady parts. Tami tells Craig that she’s having dinner with an ex-boyfriend. A worker at a pet store offers to get “something stronger” than weed for Craig. This will involve licking the glands on the hindquarters of a large toad that excretes hallucinogens. Unfortunately, Craig’s “life-altering trip” just takes him to a Subway.
The fun in “Friendship” is awkward, inappropriate and frequently bizarre. Yes, the film is sketch comedy stretched to feature-film length. But it works. Viewers not already smitten with Mara will find her flighty Tami irresistible and inscrutable. In a case of domestic symbolism, Tami gets lost in the maze-like aqueduct, and the entire town searches for her. Tami and Craig’s marriage hits the skids. She moves out. Will Craig ever get her back? Get ready for a Kaufman-esque ending.
As others have observed, Robinson resembles the young, bulging-eyed Rodney Dangerfield, but he also recalls Jim Carrey in schizo mode. In “Friendship,” he stews, screams and rages. There is a fury inside Craig that can never fully emerge because it would destroy him. He’s the raw, howling id of this insane moment in our time. He’s us. If “Friendship” develops the following it deserves, Robinson will be a generational comedy star. Who would not want another lick of that toad’s ass?
‘Friendship’
Rating: R for some language and drug content.
Cast: Tim Robinson, Paul Rudd, Kate Mara
Director/writer: Andrew DeYoung
Running time: 101 minutes
Where to Watch: AMC Boston Common, Landmark Kendall Square and the Coolidge Corner theater.
Grade: A-
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