#189: Friendship

Release Date: May 9th, 2025

Format: Streaming (HBO)

Written by: Andrew DeYoung

Directed by: Andrew DeYoung

3.5 Stars

Andrew DeYoung’s 2024 film, Friendship, is essentially a vehicle for the bizarre, alienated voice of comedian and lead actor, Tim Robinson. How much one enjoys the film hinges almost completely on how much Robinson makes you laugh.

For the record, Tim Robinson makes me laugh. A lot.

He’s now part of a rich history of lead comedic actors who’ve carried a film solely on their schtick. The best of these performers -  Lewis, Chase, Murray, Dangerfield, Murphy, Carrey, Sandler - live on in the public consciousness for generations. The less than the best - say, the Bobcat Goldthwaits and Howie Mandels and Rob Schneiders of the world - hit big for a picture or two before the popular culture washes over them.

It seems like Tim Robinson will be relegated more to the latter than the former. I hope I’m wrong, though. He’s really funny, and there might even be some depth there (watching his character, Craig Waterman, break into his neighbor’s home and start waving a gold handgun around while on a work conference call on his cell phone is funny, for sure, but he also shows some genuine menace. Would he work in a darker, straight drama? Maybe).

But in Friendship he’s mostly just funny, and he needs to be, because the plot is pretty minimalistic. DeYoung succeeds in developing strange, sort of post-modern characters and tones in the picture, but he wagers much of the film on his performers, Robinson especially.

I think the wager pays off.