May 9, 2025
by Carla Hay
Directed by Andrew DeYoung
Culture Representation: Taking place in the fictional U.S. city of Clovis, the comedy/drama film “Friendship” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few African Americans) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.
Culture Clash: A married marketing executive becomes fixated on having a close friendship with his married weatherman neighbor, resulting in discomfort and some things that spiral out of control.
Culture Audience: “Friendship” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and dark comedies about obsessive people.
“Friendship” is intentionally dark “cringe comedy” that won’t appeal to everyone. This memorable story (about a man who becomes obsessed with having a close friendship with his neighbor) blurs lines between what is socially awkward and mentally ill. It’s a compelling satire, but at times it comes dangerously close to being a cruel mockery of people with mental health struggles.
Written and directed by Andrew DeYoung, “Friendship” is his feature-film directorial debut, after directing several TV episodes (for shows such as “PEN15” and “Shrill”) and short films. “Friendship” had its world premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival and its U.S. premiere at the 2025 SXSW Film & TV Festival. This is a movie that can be described as “an acquired taste.” You’ll know within the first 15 minutes if it’s going to be interesting enough for you to keep watching.
“Friendship” begins by showing a support group for cancer survivors and their loved ones. In the meeting are spouses Craig Waterman (played by Tim Robinson) and Tami Waterman (played by Kate Mara), who have very different personalities. Tami is calm and laid-back. Craig is fidgety and high-strung. Tami mentions that she’s been cancer-free for 12 months. (It’s never revealed in the movie what type of cancer she had.)
Tami also gets candid and says that because of the toll that the cancer recovery has taken on her, she wonders if she’ll ever have an orgasm again. Crag pipes in and says that he’s pretty sure that he’ll have an orgasm. It sets the tone of what’s to come as the movie shows how rude, narcissistic and lacking in self-awareness that Craig can be. He doesn’t see himself that way. He sees himself as a good guy who is misunderstood.
Craig (who is a marketing executive at a company called Universal Digital Innovation) and Tami (who has her own home-based florist business) live in a middle-class house in the fictional U.S. city of Clovis. (The state were Clovis is located is never mentioned in the movie, but Clovis is in a state that has snow during the winter. “Friendship” was actually filmed in Yonkers, New York.) Near the beginning of the movie, it’s revealed that Craig and Tami’s house is for sale because Tami wants a bigger house for her floral business.
Tami and Craig have a teenage son named Steven (played by Jack Dylan Grazer), who has his 17th birthday about halfway through the movie. Steven and Tami are very close, but Steven has a very distant and tension-filled relationship with Craig. It goes beyond teenage rebellion against a parent. Craig is just downright embarrassing to be around because of his very strange and off-putting way of interacting with people. Craig acts like a man-child, with an emotionally immature outlook on life.
One day, a package is mistakenly delivered to the Waterman household. The package is meant for Austin Carmichael (played by Paul Rudd), who leaves near the Watermans on the same street. Craig brings the package over to Austin’s house and is greeted in a friendly manner by Austin, who thanks Craig for giving him the package. Austin, who is a meteorologist for a local TV station, lives with his wife Bianca (played by Meredith Garretson), who is barely in the movie. Austin and Bianca have no children.
At first, Craig doesn’t think too much about this interaction with Austin. Shortly after Craig and Austin have met, Tami says she’s going out to have drinks that evening with an ex-boyfriend named Devon, who is never seen in the movie. Tami tells Craig that Austin invited Craig over to Austin’s house as a thank you for Craig making sure that Austin received the package. Craig whines that instead of going to Austin’s place, he’d rather go see the latest Marvel movie playing in a theater. Craig asks Steven if he wants to go see the movie with him, but Steven isn’t interested.
Craig reluctantly goes over to Austin’s house to hang out for a while. This experience will change both of their lives—and not necessarily in a good way. But during this first time they hang out together, things go fairly well. Austin shows Craig an unusual stone that Austin says was used as a carving tool used by humans in the prehistoric era. Craig warms up to Austin because he can see that Austin has eccentric tendencies, just like Craig.
Austin confides in Craig that he feels underappreciated at work. Austin works the night/evening shift, but what he really wants is to get the more prestigious morning shift so that he doesn’t have work at night. Craig also relates to Austin in this way because Craig also feels disrespected at his job. Craig is treated like a weirdo by his co-workers, who exclude him from a lot of their clique activities outside of the office.
On the night that Austin and Craig first hang out with each other, Austin convinces Craig to go on a spontaneous “adventure” with Austin. They go to a fenced-in area that has a “Restricted Access” sign and sneak through the fence. At first, Craig is very nervous, but he lets Austin lead the way. Austin shows Craig that this fenced-in area has a discontinued underground aquaduct tunnel that leads to Clovis’ city hall. Austin has been secretly using this tunnel, just for fun.
Craig feels flattered that Austin has been sharing secrets with him. And he starts to feel like Austin is now his best friend. Austin can see that Craig is emotionally needy and maybe a little off-balance mentally. But Austin likes feeling that someone is looking up to him in admiration, so he is manipulates Craig a little bit.
It doesn’t help that Austin does some unusual things that give the impression that he’s offbeat like Craig. A major example is when Austin calls Craig at work while Craig is in the middle of an important meeting. Austin doesn’t care and tells Craig to meet him in a wooded area right away.
When Craig meets Austin in the woods, he finds out that Austin just wants to show him where non-poisonous, non-psychedelic mushrooms are in the woods. Craig and Austin then pick several mushrooms, some of which Craig takes home and fries for a meal. This mushroom-picking excursion in the woods is the beginning of Craig’s obsession with Austin.
Several times in the movie, Craig has vivid fantasies. For example, Austin moonlights as the lead singer/guitarist of a punk rock band called Mayor Nichols Sucks. Austin invites Craig and Tami to watch the band play at a local bar. While the band is playing on stage, Craig has a fantasy that he’s the drummer in the band. A few days later, Craig shows up at Austin’s front door with a full drum kit and says, “Let’s jam.” (Austin’s reaction is exactly what you would expect it to be.)
Craig’s bizarre outbursts and antics won’t be described in full detail here. But it’s enough to say that Austin begins to distance himself from Craig after a social gathering that turns into a very uncomfortable disaster. Austin also gets the job promotion that he wants, which also affects his attitude toward Craig, as Austin becomes more image-conscious about things that will affect his career.
There are many scenes in “Friendship” where the story starts to wander and doesn’t really go anywhere. Certain scenes look like mini-comedy sketches that aren’t essential to the plot but are just more examples of how awkward and strange Craig can be. For example, there are multiple scenes of Craig trying to befriend an 18-year-old sales clerk named Tony (played by Billy Bryk) at an electronics store, but if these scenes weren’t in the movie, it would make no difference to the plot.
The movie also seems to have things to say about how Austin and Craig, in their own ways, have disdain for bureaucratic authority, but “Friendship” doesn’t go beyond surface level with these ideas. For example, Austin despises Clovis’ mayor Seth Nichols (played by Alex Webb) so much, the name of Austin’s band is Mayor Nichols Sucks, but there are no real details about why Austin has this hatred for Mayor Nichols. Meanwhile, Craig’s department gets hired to do the marketing for the mayor’s re-election campaign, which leads to yet another meltdown from Craig.
The movie under-develops the situation of Craig and Tami selling their house. The house sale is briefly talked about in a few scenes in the beginning of the movie and is then never mentioned again. A real-estate agent and potential buyers are seen quickly leaving the house in one scene, but the movie could’ve had more comedic situations for the house sale. It’s a missed opportunity to show how Craig’s obsession with Austin would be affected if Craig knew he had a limited period of time before he had to move away from the same street where Austin lives. You never get the sense of who in Craig and Tami’s marriage is really dealing with decisions about selling the house.
“Friendship” has cast members who are very talented in comedy, so their performances are what keeps this movie afloat. Robinson and Rudd play their roles well, even when their characters occasionally veer into caricatures. The tag line for the movie is “Men Shouldn’t Have Friends.” Although “Friendship” seems to be a message about masculinity in friendships, to say that this movie is about mostly masculinity would be missing the bigger picture. “Friendship” is much more about mental health than masculinity.
The movie depicts uncomfortable situations where people are faced with dilemmas about how to deal with Craig—someone who is clearly becoming mentally unhinged. Are there some laugh-out-loud moments in “Friendship”? Yes—mostly having to do with harmless slapstick comedy. But there are also plenty of moments that aren’t as funny as intended. The movie has a tone of laughing at Craig during his mental unraveling. He obviously needs therapy or some type of counseling, but no one steps in to help.
“Friendship” is a fictional comedy/drama and not a public-service announcement. However, by making Craig the “buffoon villain” of the story, the movie tends to perpetuate the worst stereotypes that cause mentally ill people to be hated. If the movie succeeds in one area of how it depicts mental illness, it’s to point out the sad reality that when people who are close to a mentally ill person do nothing to help, then they are part of the problem too.
A24 released “Friendship” in select U.S. cinemas on May 9, 2025, with an expansion to more U.S. cinemas on May 23, 2025.
