Friendship Parent Guide

You will have a visceral reaction to this movie; it is the very definition of cringe. Craig Waterman (played by Tim Robinson) is a middle aged, middle management, middle class narcissist, who lives with his wife Tami (Kate Mara) and son Steven. Tami is a cancer survivor who has been cancer free for a year but is concerned that her illness will return.

Craig works at a tech consulting firm and specializes in increasing habit-forming (see addictive) user interactions. Early on, it’s obvious that Craig is an outsider who cannot reconcile human interaction with the way he sees the world. Craig is boring, rigid, dogmatic, and completely unable to read any social situation without placing himself at the center of it. As an example, Craig is unable to hear Tami’s concerns about her cancer returning nor her shifting perspective on the future without somehow making both of those challenges about himself.

Then Craig meets his neighbor, Austin (played by Paul Rudd), who is a local TV weatherman. Austin immediately introduces Craig to an entirely new world of wonder, color, and platonic male emotional intimacy (in other words, friendship) that he has never seen before. Austin seems unfazed by Craig’s awkwardness and accepts Craig for who he is. This new friendship appears to blossom but Craig, unable to fully form any meaningful human connection, begins to unintentionally damage the friendship. Craig comes on way too fast into this new friendship and begins to form an entire personality in an obsessive fashion around his friendship with Austin. Craig changes his taste in music, his habits, the way he talks, and his interests in order to facilitate this relationship.

Craig soon meets Austin’s friend group and is amazed at the emotional openness and vulnerability that each member of the group is willing to share – a connection he craves but is unable to achieve. In their first meeting, Craig tries to integrate himself into the friend group by being the best at everything. This culminates in friendly boxing matches between various members of the friend group. Unable to accept the idea of losing, Craig sucker punches Austen and ruins the atmosphere of the evening. With their friendship hanging in the balance, Craig has choices to make – and he invariably makes the wrong ones…

This movie is simple on paper but deserves deeper analysis. We all know someone like Craig. We have all felt like Craig – agonizingly awkward, convinced that we’re the problem. This issue here is that Craig is unable to recognize or learn from his experiences.

Friendship is a dark comedy at its core so the situations are uncomfortable. You will cringe at everything Craig does… and just when you think he figures things out, you be disappointed with another cringy gut punch that makes you double over.

Kudos to director David DeYoung for producing an adult-oriented drama that does more than recycle familiar tropes or pile on elaborate action sequences. This show feels real because the characters, set design, cinematography, and acting are all muted - much like real life. You have been to this neighborhood; you have met these people. In addition, this grounding in reality juxtaposes the absurdity of each situation, making for a very uncomfortable but admittedly hilarious ride.