Making friends as an adult can be hard, but in the upcoming comedy Friendship, it's a downright nightmare. A24 unveiled the first trailer for writer-director Andrew DeYoung's feature debut, which sees Tim Robinson playing a reserved and habitual man living a quiet life in the suburbs with his family. Everything changes forever, however, when he bumps into his infinitely cooler new neighbor, played by Paul Rudd, and falls head over heels for him. What starts as an innocent male bond becomes cringe-inducing chaos that feels ripped out of an I Think You Should Leave sketch and taken beyond its extreme.
The footage introduces viewers to Craig Waterman (Robinson) and Austin Carmichael (Rudd), who first meet by complete accident in a moment of pure wonder when the former drops a package off at the latter's house. A friendly gesture soon becomes an opportunity for Craig to come out of his shell when his wife tells him about an invitation to have drinks with Austin at his house. It's only upon arriving, being introduced to other men from the neighborhood, and hearing everyone open up to the charismatic meteorologist that he becomes obsessed and envisions a future with Austin by his side as his best bud for life. Alas, everything falls apart when his pal calls it quits on their friendship. Pure insanity unfolds as Craig lets his child-like obsession take hold and tries his best to make Austin give him a second chance, leading them down a dark path that gets the cops involved and ends with the pair apparently ready to kill each other.
Though this will be his first feature, DeYoung has flexed his comedy chops before Friendship. His resume on television is long, including directorial credits on episodes of The Decameron, Our Flag Means Death, Pen15, and Dave, among other things. For his debut film, he couldn't ask for a much better ensemble with Robinson and Rudd playing roles at the top tailor-made for them given the former's cringe comedy fame and the latter's sheer charisma. Joining them are Kate Mara, Meredith Garretson, Josh Segarra, Jack Dylan Grazer, and Jon Glaser.
'Friendship' Found Success While Pushing Tim Robinson Out of His Comfort Zone
DeYoung took Friendship to the Toronto International Film Festival's Midnight Madness section last year where it became an instant hit, placing as the second runner-up for the People's Choice Award behind John Hsu's Dead Talents Society and Coralie Fargeat's smash hit Oscar nominee, The Substance. The film also scored a stellar 87% on Rotten Tomatoes, with Collider's Ross Bonaime praising it in his 9/10 review and saying "Friendship feels ready to become the next great cult comedy hit." Robinson stressed that creating the comedy was no easy feat given his relative lack of experience playing the leading man for someone else's project. Speaking to Collider Editor-in-Chief Steve Weintraub for the festival, he explained how DeYoung inspired him to take on the challenge and stretch his comedic muscles in a new way:
"It's a great question because it's out of my comfort zone to do something that somebody else wrote. It's a little bit more stressful for me. I want to do a good job, and I don't know the material as well as they do and everything. It was uncomfortable, but Andy [DeYoung]’s a good friend. I think he's brilliant. I think that he's so talented, and I really wanted to work with him. I love the script, and I was just excited to challenge myself to try to do something that was out of my comfort zone."
Friendship heads to theaters in May. Check out the trailer in the player above.
Image courtesy of Andy Rydzewski
English (US) ·