Friendship
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In the new cringe comedy Friendship, a deeply strange and intense guy forms a troubled friendship with his new neighbor, a TV weatherman played by Paul Rudd. The film stars Tim Robinson, an SNL veteran who's best known for his work playing deeply strange and intense guys in TV shows like I Think You Should Leave. I'm Stephen Thompson, and today we are talking about Friendship on Pop Culture Happy Hour from NPR. ♪

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Joining us today is the Philadelphia Inquirer's arts and entertainment editor and film critic, Badatri D. Chaudhry. Hey, Badatri. Hello. So excited to be here. It is a pleasure to have you. Also with us is freelance music and culture journalist, Rihanna Cruz. Hi, Rihanna. Hi, Stephen. Happy to be here. Great to have you both. So even if you

So true.

Sweaty, awkward, a little unnerving, deeply committed to the bit, and almost certainly guilty of whatever everyone's suspecting. In Friendship, Robinson plays Craig, a weird guy with a lovely but distant wife and a teenage son. Craig works as a marketing executive, part of his job is to make apps more addictive, and he has nothing else in particular going on, even with his family. So when he meets his new neighbor Austin, played by Paul Rudd,

Craig is smitten by Austin's gestures of friendship. I always wanted to play drums, but just couldn't. Get yourself a set. We'll jam. Play some punk music or something. Look, it isn't about how well you play.

As befitting Tim Robinson's whole vibe, Craig is a guy prone to strange outbursts and awkward mishaps, which naturally means their friendship takes a disastrous turn. Friendship was written and directed by first-timer Andrew DeYoung. It's in theaters now. Rihanna, I'm going to start with you. What did you think of Friendship? I liked it.

I'm a usual fan of Tim Robinson, though. And what I will say is that whether or not you like this film, it kind of depends on how far your mileage goes with Tim Robinson in general. When I was watching it, I was like, OK, like I enjoy this. You know, I'm laughing at this. I saw it at a screening on a college campus. So everybody was really raucous and very into it.

But at times I was like, it's a little bit long. It's a little bit uneven pacing wise. But generally, like, I can't complain. I liked it. I laughed a lot. It was probably the funniest movie I saw in theaters this year, other than one of them days. So I like...

I was into it. Nice. All right. How about you, Bidatri? So the caveat is, let me just say this up front, that I'm not a big fan of cringe comedy. Like I can take it to a point, but therein lies the problem because cringe comedy always goes that extra tiny mile or meter or whatever you say to make you feel more uncomfortable than you need to. So I was cringing a lot.

You know, I'm saying all these words, but I did enjoy the film. But like, I get very annoyed and frustrated seeing ineptitude on screen. Oh, boy. Well, then you came to the wrong movie.

I know, I know. But you know, ineptitude, it can be physical ineptitude. But when it goes into like your, you know, social behavior, your psychological ineptitude, your emotional ineptitude, that always makes for interesting viewing. And I think that's how the film appealed to me. I would say go watch it. But like, you look away just because of how embarrassed you are for this person. Yeah, there was a there was a total stranger sitting next to me in the theater. And I kept

instinctively wanting to look at her like, can you believe this? And then it's like, this is a stranger. Leave this person alone. I agree with both of you completely. And I think, you know, Rihanna really touched on what I think is the litmus test for whether you're going to enjoy this film, which is if you're not familiar with Tim Robinson, if you've only maybe even seen a screenshot of him in the hot dog suit. Yeah, prep yourself. That vibe is not for everybody. He is sort of inherently not for everybody. Yeah.

If you are a cringe comedy person, if you are somebody who likes to soak up the awkwardness, if you are somebody who loves to – like the way you would watch a horror movie. Like I love watching horror movies through my fingers. This is a social horror movie. Yes.

Oh, absolutely. And on that level, I really, really enjoyed it. Me too. I saw somebody calling it like an erotic thriller, but in the platonic sense, like a platonic erotic thriller, which I think really sums up the events of the movie because there's this simmering tension between

But I don't think I've ever seen a movie like this about friendship, you know, which I think is like pretty nuanced. And I think that's something to the movie's benefit. I think it kind of goes an extra mile.

an extra level beyond most sketches on Tim Robinson's show, I Think You Should Leave. Most of those are about strangers, right? And acquaintances. And like, what do you do if you show up at a party and there's a dude there acting weird? What if that person was your neighbor and also trying to be your best friend and you have weird dynamics even in your family? Yeah. And I also think it is difficult to

to make friends after a certain age. Like that's across all genders, right? And I was also thinking, I don't know if you guys remember, there was like this whole thing about hashtag no homo. I love my best friend, but hashtag no homo. Like, you know, men have to

thread this very thin line, and they have to be friendly, but not too friendly, so much as to they're considered to be queer. And I don't know why that's a big deal. But it does speak to, you know, what has been jokingly and not so jokingly been called the main loneliness epidemic.

And I appreciated that commentary a lot. Yeah. I mean, I think touching on something Rihanna said about the film being an erotic thriller, I mean, it's also a horror movie in that if you are somebody who talks to the screen, the number of times you will say, don't go in there is roughly equivalent to the number of times you would say, don't go in there during a horror movie. But speaking to the

the subtext of this film, or really the text of this film, about male friendship, I think that is one of the things that really elevates this film. And one thing that I think that the movie Friendship does really, really smartly is it makes Paul Rudd's character...

He's not just like an unattainable, like the equivalent of the love interest or whatever. He's also a goober. He's just slightly more socially adept. He's a little smoother. He's a little slicker, but he's slicker in the like, he sees a sports car and just calls it cherry. Oh, look at this. Oh man, that's cherry. Oh yeah. This is my dream car.

He's a TV weatherman. Like, he's a cheesy, kind of goofy guy. Like, and he has friends. He has, like, a bunch of male friends that he hangs out with, and that's part of what creates some of these awkward social dynamics is, you know, the Tim Robinson character kind of coming in and trying to fit in, not just with one guy, but with a bunch of guys. And that's where, like, all of a sudden it completely falls apart, and he has no ability to kind of

Yeah.

Everybody is afraid, I think, of walking into a room and suddenly like kind of everybody stops talking and you stick out like a sore thumb. I mean, that's that kind of anxiety goes back to kindergarten. Absolutely. And is entirely divorced from gender. Like, that's just we're all afraid of being the turd in the punch bowl. Yeah.

And he is the turd in the punch bowl. And you're watching that play out over and over and over again. He knows he doesn't fit in, but he doesn't have, he's too weird a guy to really adjust accordingly. And so part of the cringiness that you're experiencing, part of the amount that you're watching this film through your fingers, is watching our own social anxieties magnified on the screen. Like, you know, these are men who have functional disabilities.

it veers into dysfunctional data, but like, you know, they have functional families. They're holding down jobs. These are people we have known, we have been perhaps at some point. They walk among us. Yeah. In dialed down forms, we've all been this person. Like you're always scared that

are my palms sweaty when you're reaching out for a handshake all the time? And this is about that guy with sweaty palms. But yeah, I mean, and that's interesting to me that, you know, they're all pretty functional adults, but like completely in adept when it comes to social cues and social relationships and bonding and all those things.

Stevie, your mom's abandoning us. It's just you and I. We gotta go see that Marvel tonight. All right, shot. It's sort of... Ah, don't spoil it. Do not spoil it. What's going on? I thought it was kind of sad in a way. I felt sad at multiple points watching it, watching this man...

be physically unable to connect with other people, it evoked feelings of empathy within me, like both sympathy and empathy. But not for too long. Then he just like misbehaves with his wife so much. No, not for too long. But I was watching it and I was like, damn, this poor man trying to connect with other people around him and failing tremendously. And he can't really seem to understand why. That is the formula for every successful Tim Robinson bit. Yeah.

But here, it's kind of taken that extra level. Like, I don't think I've ever felt sad watching Tim Robinson before. Ah.

It does give you a little more space and time to sit with the character, even though he is essentially playing a version of a character that he has played in all of the comedy of his that I've seen. Oh, absolutely. It's interesting. I was looking at Tim Robinson's filmography, and he's had two shows that he was at the head of. I think you should leave in The Detroiters.

And he's done some voice work here and there. He was in the SNL cast for a minute and was writing for SNL for longer than that. But he doesn't have a ton of film credits. And one of the things I was thinking about was like,

he is the type of character you would ordinarily put as a supporting character in a lot of films. He's not necessarily a guy you'd put at the lead of a lot of films, in part because he is such an unusual presence. But I think he's such an unusual presence that he can't really fade into the background as a supporting character in a movie. He pulls so much focus out.

In every scene he's in. I'm really glad he got to be the star of a movie. And see if it works. And I hope that it does. Because I really enjoy his deeply, deeply weird and committed vibe. Yeah. What I will say is that I feel like it's...

another entry into this newly emerging canon of like millennial internet based work. Like I think of Connor O'Malley's rap world from last year, which similarly internet cringe comedian, uh,

kind of developing a fan base that's mostly men transitioning into a long form movie and running into similar pitfalls where it is a little long. It's a little arduous at times, very heavily cringe focused. Yeah. But that being said, like this is kind of a new path for,

for these comedians. And I think it's interesting that they're courting a fan base that can move with them over different forms of media. You know, I'm curious to see what else would be

In this vein, like who else can make the transition effectively from short form comedy to long form film and not have it feel trite? Yeah. And interestingly, I think there are also lots of nods to internet culture. Like, you know, obviously, Tim Robinson leads this whole life as a meme. Right. But also, you know, hashtag no homo. And then, you know, there are those memes that like men will...

do XXX instead of going to therapy. Like, it nods to a lot of these little internet moments that is a part of our cultural zeitgeist and what we keep talking about, how one feeds into the other constantly. Yeah. I did appreciate the fact that this film opens with a scene of him in therapy. He is in group therapy. Oh, yes.

And the film makes it very clear in very, very funny ways that he's just as bad at therapy as he is. In and out of it, yes. All-timer character introduction, by the way. Like, I don't think I've ever seen a better character introduction. So succinct.

so funny. My whole theater erupted and that's when I knew, oh, okay, like we're in for a good one. I also wanted to throw out one more thing about this film that I really appreciated, which is I think it has a pretty dynamite supporting cast. Oh,

For me, you can absolutely never go wrong in any comedy if you bring out Josh Segarra. Josh Segarra, he was in The Other Two. He was in She-Hulk. He pops up in stuff all the time. Anytime you want somebody who is incredibly eager, incredibly virtuous...

But kind of a bro, you get Josh Segera. He just brings this kind of golden retriever energy to everything that he does. And I find him so delightful. And seeing him turn up in this movie, I was really thinking about how Josh Segera has a little bit of Tim Robinson's tendency to always play the same character. Right.

But it's always funny. I also like Kate Mara as Tammy, who is unfortunately married to Craig Waterman, Tim Robinson's character. And she does in the film what I've always wanted Larry David's wife to do earlier in Curb Your Enthusiasm.

She is great. And that's a very, very challenging role because she has to be the straight man. She has to be the foil. And she has to be able to react to him in very, very subtle ways. That, to me, struck me as a much more difficult performance to pull off than it necessarily shows. But she's also weird. She's also on her own tip, though. Yeah. She would have to.

You know, like there's moments in there. Can you imagine being married to this man? Well, right. But she's also like kissing her son like on the mouth. And it's like, oh, okay. Like everybody in this movie is a little weird in their own way. It's nacho, nacho time. Never underestimate the nacho. Yummy. Oh, good work. Mmm.

Delicious, huh? Anyway, I gotta go. Bye. I love you. Have fun. Thank you. You guys kiss each other on the lips? A little off-kilter, yes. Yeah. Well, and they do a nice job with her of establishing that she has her entire story. Yes. She has wants and needs. She has a history. She has fears and struggles. And these all come up.

They all tend to come up through the lens of he is oblivious to them or ignores them in some way or misreacts to them in some way. But she gets to be a fully formed character in a way she so easily could not have been. That's right. Yeah. I think it's safe to say we all enjoyed friendship. We all recommend friendship as long as you're into the basic gist. Yeah.

All right. Well, we want to know what you think. Find us on Facebook at facebook.com slash pchh and on Letterboxd at letterboxd.com slash nprpopculture. We'll have a link in our episode description. That brings us to the end of our show. Rihanna Cruz, Badotri D. Chaudhry, thanks so much for being here. Thank you so much. This was so fun. Thank you for having us.

And just a reminder that signing up for Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus is a great way to support our show and public radio. And you get to listen to all of our episodes sponsor free. So please go find out more at plus.npr.org slash happy hour or visit the link in our show notes. This episode was produced by Liz Metzger and edited by Jessica Reedy and Mike Katziff.

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