Sean at the Cinema: Friendship

On one hand, this is exactly what you think it’s going to be — a 95 minute I Think You Should Leave sketch filled with Robinson’s distinct absurdist style and his unrivaled pronunciation of one certain swear word. If that’s what you showed up for, you won’t be disappointed. It’s just as funny as you think it will be.

On the other hand, this also taps into an energy that we don’t get with Robinson’s breakout show, partially thanks to the curated feature debut direction from Andrew DeYoung, but also because we get the answer to a question no one has ever thought to ask: what happens to the doomed ITYSL character when the camera cuts to black? Of course, the magic in each sketch lies in its ephemeral nature — we don’t need to know what happens, because the humor is in the brevity. But what if we got the chance anyway?

And now we do. There’s an understated, melancholic energy vibrating throughout here, one that we sometimes get a sense of in I Think You Should Leave, but never this close; never this unadulterated. There are a few moments where Friendship dares you to take it seriously, for just a moment, right before breaking that spell with another Tim Robinsonism. For a split second, your heart aches for Craig (who really could be any character from the series), but then he’s making you laugh so hard you can’t breathe. That push-and-pull works to the film’s advantage, and it’s one you can’t really explore over only 3 minutes. With a full-length feature, there’s room to push the envelope a bit, even if the end goal is still ridiculous absurdist comedy.

Male friendship can be a strange thing, and Friendship explores this sentiment with curiosity and care. It’s really easy to laugh at Craig, but there’s also a desire to empathize with him. Most men probably haven’t punished themselves by eating a bar of soap for breaking bro code, but we’ve all, at the very least, found ourselves in the middle of a social faux pas. Unlike Craig, we get over it, but there’s a specific anxiety explored here that I haven’t really seen much other media accurately convey.

This is all just a long-winded way of saying this movie, under its whacky sketch show artiface, is actually quite brave. And vulnerable. But it’s also really, really funny. Andrew and Tim and Paul have created something so niche and specific on paper that feels like it would never work in a million years. But it does, and it might just be the funniest thing you watch this year.

Rating: 4/5 (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

Friendship is available to stream now on HBO Max.