Of course the funniest film of the year is about how hard it is now to make a friend. We’re living in the age of social decay. Either you’re parasocially attached to ChatGPT or starting fist fights at the cinema because half a row’s been temporarily blinded by the glow of someone checking their likes on Instagram. No one knows how to socialise anymore and everyone’s angry at each other for it.
Writer-director Andrew DeYoung’s debut feature, Friendship, files all those anxieties into a lethally absurd point, summarised by its exasperated lead Craig Waterman (Tim Robinson) when he cries out: “I did one strange thing and I’m toast!” An erroneously delivered package has led him to the front door of his new neighbour, the moustachioed, twinkly eyed glory that is Paul Rudd’s Austin Carmichael. Austin collects Palaeolithic artefacts, plays in a band, does weather for the local news station, and doesn’t even own a phone. He might very well be the ultimate man.
