When was the last time you truly laughed throughout an entire comedy? Not just a few chuckles, but tears streaming down your face, side hurting, just absolutely losing your shit? As part of this year’s Midnight Madness program at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival, one such movie had its debut, one of the most hilarious comedies to come out in quite some time: writer-director Andrew DeYoung’s Friendship. Featuring Tim Robinson in his first starring film role, as well as Paul Rudd, Kate Mara, and Jack Dylan Grazer, Friendship truly has all the makings of a future comedy classic.

What Is ‘Friendship’ About?
Image courtesy of Andy Rydzewski

Robinson leads this wild comedy as Craig Waterman, a fairly boring suburban father and husband. Craig buys all his clothes at the same stores, he works for a company that helps make brands more addictive, and one of his biggest points of pride is getting a speed bump installed in the neighborhood. Craig doesn’t really have any friends, instead opting to stay at home with his wife, Tami (Mara), and son, Steven (Grazer). But when Craig delivers a missent package to his new neighbor, Brian (Rudd), he finds a cool new friend.

Brian is a local weatherman with a mustache, plays in a punk band, and explores the town’s sewers for fun. To Craig, Brian is just about the coolest guy he’s ever met. But Craig’s attempts to impress his new friend and be as cool as him could not only be a problem with his buddy, but could have repercussions in the rest of his life as well.

DeYoung makes his feature debut with Friendship, after directing episodes of The Other Two, Our Flag Means Death, and Pen15, and having directed and co-written the comedy special Would It Kill You to Laugh? starring Kate Berlant and John Early. At the post-screening Q&A, DeYoung mentioned how the film was about 90% on the page, and the lead part was written for Robinson, which shows just how exceptional DeYoung is at writing with a specific comedian’s voice in mind. DeYoung also said that he wanted to shoot this film like Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master, and considering the dynamic between Craig and Brian, this is a perfect choice, and in a way, this actually does sort of seem like the comedy equivalent of that PTA film.

Tim Robinson Is Ready to Become a Comedy Movie Star
Image via TIFF

Friendship manages to capture the same weird specific vibe that I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson has, but also without feeling like a bunch of sketches tied together. Even frequent ITYSL guests Conner O’Malley and Whitmer Thomas each get some great moments. DeYoung centers all of these great jokes and ideas around this slow degradation of Craig’s life, as he attempts to fit in, be cool, or try to impress someone. Each scene manages to find a way to further this story and Craig’s desperation to be liked, while also being brilliantly hysterical.

But it’s the delivery from Robinson in every moment that makes Friendship so ingeniously funny. Robinson can make any line or moment funny simply by his inflection or his unique way of handling a scene. Friendship isn’t really packed with obvious jokes, but rather, puts Robinson in frequently serious situations, and steps back while Robinson makes these moments his own. In his first major film role (apologies to Ugly Sonic in Chip ’n Dale: Rescue Rangers), Robinson elevates each scene with his own way of seeing things, which leads to some strange and wonderful moments. For example, his way of hanging out with Brian and a bunch of his friends is so unbelievably strange and awkward, it’s impossible not to laugh. Meanwhile, one of the funniest moments you’ll see in a film comes from Craig’s exploration of psychedelics and how the film subverts your expectations. Friendship is a prime example that Robinson should become one of our biggest comedy movie stars, showing how he can make any scenario or moment even greater than it was on the page.

Equally impressive is the rest of the cast, who are mostly playing these situations straight, yet manage to find their own laughs within the moment. Rudd is particularly great as the ideal friend to Robinson’s Craig, yet maybe isn’t really as cool as Craig might think. Rudd plays Brian almost as if he’s trying to be the guy everyone would want to hang out with, and his frustration with Craig later in the film makes for a great dynamic between these two. Maybe the most difficult job must be to play the straight woman alongside Robinson, but as his wife Tami, Mara plays the role completely straightforward, a fairly normal person trying to live her life, despite all the weirdness Craig has going on around him. It’s a role that could’ve been thankless, but Mara makes it soar. Also wonderful is Grazer as Craig and Tami’s son, who pops in from time to time, revealing some new aspect of who he is that we’re only on the fringes of. In fact, DeYoung’s script writes this story as though there are all these other stories happening that we never quite focus on, putting these secondary characters’ stories together in our heads, fleshing out this wild suburban life.

‘Friendship’ Is a Future Cult Comedy Classic in the Making
Image courtesy of Andy Rydzewski

While so many comedies these days go straight to streaming, where they’ll likely be watched by people solo in their homes, Friendship makes the case for films like this to be seen in a theater with as many people as possible. Granted, Midnight Madness TIFF was clearly packed with existing Robinson fans, hanging on his every delivery (what other audience would give a round of applause for an appearance by O’Malley?), but this is the type of strange comedy that could find a cult following if given a theatrical release. When watching Friendship with a packed house, it was hard for me not to think of going to the movies, feeling and hearing the surprised, overjoyed reactions from the crowd watching Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy or Bridesmaids for the first time. Friendship is probably too weird to find that massive of success, but it will certainly be a film that finds its audience of diehard fans who recite it for years to come. And frankly, if this goes directly to streaming, it will be a damn shame to lose that experience for its audience.

From Robinson’s way of exploring each scene to DeYoung’s bonkers screenplay that knows how to play to its actor’s strengths, Friendship feels ready to become the next great cult comedy hit.

Friendship had its World Premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.