Friendship (2025)
Directed by Andrew DeYoung
Suburban dad Craig falls hard for his charismatic new neighbor Austin, and his attempts to make an adult male friend threatens to ruin both of their lives.
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24 films that influenced Friendship
What critics say influenced Friendship
…marketing materials for “Friendship” may have compared the film to the heartwarming, raunchy sentimentality of “I Love You, Man,”…
Rudd has some experience with awkward bromance movies, having co-starred in 2009’s I Love You, Man, with Jason Segel.
American male friendship is known for outward expressions of manliness, exhibitions of emotional connection considered too vulnerable (see also Paul Rudd's "I Love You, Man")…
…the general good vibes of 2000s, Judd Apatow-produced bromances like I Love You Man (which Rudd also starred in, albeit as the square)…
Rudd’s role in this film may conjure up memories of I Love You, Man for some viewers…
“There’s no rules for male friendship!” exclaims Paul Rudd’s Peter Klaven in John Hamburg’s 2009 film I Love You, Man as he agonizes over the intricacies of platonic etiquette. Over a decade and a half later, the actor returns to find humor and insight across the same thematic terrain in writer-director Andrew DeYoung’s Friendship.
In part the film reminds me of Ben Stiller’s underrated comedy The Cable Guy (1996), but that film still invited some sympathy via Matthew Broderick’s hapless protagonist.
Friendship really feels like it is trying to tap into The Cable Guy audience.
The film isn’t simply a cut-and-dry “male friendship gone wrong” as The Cable Guy or other comparable releases have done.
The film harkens back to movies like The Cable Guy, where an absurdly dark Jim Carrey becomes obsessed with the one customer who is friendly to him. Like the 1996 film, everyone’s life becomes upside-down due to this obsessive idea of friendship.
Like Banshees of Inishirin, Friendship‘s script has something to say about the awkwardness of male friendship and the pain of a once treasured bromance coming to an end.
Friendship does share a theme with The Banshees of Inisherin, so the indie and art-house stylistic gestures are more than just window dressing.
Friendship suddenly morphs into a deranged version of The Banshees of Inisherin, where male ego and emotional repression thwart any chance of meaningful connection.
Director
Paul Thomas Anderson
Critics invoke Anderson by name, and compare Friendship to 1 of Anderson’s films.
Visuals
On Anderson, rather than any one film
…the evocative push-ins and Steadicam tracking shots favored by his professed inspiration Anderson…
…his visual inspirations for the film were The Three Colors trilogy (specifically Blue) and Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master…
…director, Andrew DeYoung said that he took great inspiration from Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master…
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“Friendship” (2024) is “Falling Down” (1993) for average people meets “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy” (2004).
…with his thick hair and moustache, Austin also looks exactly like Brian Fantana, the smooth local news reporter Rudd played in the Anchorman films. At times, Friendship could be seen to be satirising the macho-bro energy of that film, and others like it.
He sports the abundance of self-confidence and 70s-style mustache of Brian Fantana in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy…
…a decision that mainly seems intended to differentiate the film from Step Brothers or Anchorman…
Craig’s character arc bears more in common with that of Travis Bickle in “Taxi Driver.”
…can’t quite cover up the Travis Bickle-level entitled rot that lurks at his core…
And remember the old adage of the “Seinfeld” TV show: “No hugs. No lessons learned”…
“Friendship” (2024) is “Falling Down” (1993) for average people meets “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy” (2004).
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…the agonizing mundanity of Office Space…