SXSW 2025 Review: FRIENDSHIP, It's Hard Out Here For Dudes

Cringe comedy master Tim Robinson makes his feature lead debut alongside an always dependable Paul Rudd in Andrew DeYoung’s hilarious bromantic-comedy, Friendship.

Craig Betterman (Robinson) is a man in a rut. He lives his life in an unending triangle between his job as a tech consultant, support group meetings with his cancer-survivor wife, Tami (Kate Mara), and home with his son Steven (Jack Dylan Grazer). None of these experiences are fulfilling in any way, but he is resigned to the life he leads, having found a bit of comfort in the monotony. When a misdelivered package introduces him to suave new neighbor, Austin (Rudd), his world gets turned upside-down. A friendship is born, a bond is forged that seems like it can never be broken; until it is.

After an awkward night with Austin and his old bros sends Craig into a spiral that alienates him from his new bestie, things go from monotonous to hilariously tragic as he attempts to recreate his Friendship bond with his family, leading to a missing person, horrible food poisoning, breaking and entering, and lots and lots of cops. Friendship is one of the funniest films to come around in years, and perhaps the best male friendship comedy since Step Brothers.

After years crafting characters for sketch comedy titan Saturday Night Live and his own hit Netflix show, I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson, Friendship is a test of whether Robinson’s complex view of what humor can be translates to feature length. The answer in this case is a resounding yes, though packed with nonstop gags, Friendship is more than just a series of awkward interactions and reactions, Robinson’s Craig becomes more fully fleshed out through the process of revelation.

Craig’s relationship with his wife is a curious one. They clearly love each other, even though Tami seems weary of his strange demeanor and introversion. It’s even Tami who suggests that Craig meet up with Austin for a drink after their brief introduction with the package early in the film. Craig and Tami’s relationship seems long past romance, but there is a sense of comfort that will feel familiar to long term partners that can – in certain circumstances – breed contempt and resentment. Tami isn’t quite there, but she’s not far off.

Meanwhile, Craig is exploring a new love with Austin, the local nighttime weatherman who plays in a punk band on weekends and longs for a shot at the morning news weather gig. Rudd’s characterization of Austin is everything that Craig is not, he’s conventionally handsome, has interesting hobbies, yearns for adventure, and for some reason, he likes hanging out with his milquetoast neighbor Craig. He’s like a superhero celebrity in Craig’s eyes, and when the relationship suffers from a mortal wound, he’ll do anything to revive it.

Andrew DeYoung’s take on this relationship is more than just nonstop belly laughs – though it is very much that – it is a barely exaggerated examination of the complexities of adult male friendship. Men are socialized to lead, to be independent, to be protectors, and to view other men as threats to their own families and sovereignty. Even though Craig is not the alpha type, there’s a still a part of that training that rests deep within his psyche. Most men don’t make new friends easily, so when a bond feels possible, it can be very easy to overreach and smother a potential relationship.

Through Craig is certainly a heightened version of the everyman, there’s a little bit of Craig in most of us – I certainly felt seen – and that’s where this film really succeeds. Where Step Brothers quickly eschews the responsibility of depicting reality, Friendship maintains a narrow tether to a world that is recognizable. Even as things seem to get out of hand, you can’t help feeling that this relationship and its perils might end up in a true crime series somewhere down the line as events that are unbelievable, but only just.

As insane as his actions are, we all know a Craig; a man desperate to fit in, to belong to something, who take the joke one step too far and loses the crowd. Hell, many of us have been a Craig – some of us more often than we’d like to admit – and that’s what is so brilliant about Friendship and the fascinating dynamic between Robinson and Rudd. Rarely has a film had me so rapidly alternating between squirming in my seat and laughing so hard that I have to wipe the tears from my face. Friendship is high on the list of best comedies of the year, do not miss this when it hits theaters.