Friendship review – Tim Robinson spirals in a darkly hilarious comedy

SXSW film festival: The star of I Think You Should Leave brings a similar brand of comedy to this strange and genuinely funny film about a friendship breakup

Few adult experiences sting as much as a friendship breakup, a rejection in some ways more personal, hurtful and confusing than that of a romantic partner. And few actors are better equipped to mine the weird vulnerabilities, fixations and feelings of a platonic split like the cult comedy king Tim Robinson, co-creator and star of the Netflix sketch show I Think You Should Leave (ITYSL). Over three seasons, Robinson has built up a devoted in-the-know following for his situational comedy, generationally playing unrepentant characters with no impulse control or allegiance to social scripts, people whose untidy feelings derail otherwise normal situations into absurd tangles.

In other words, not the type of people to take rejection well. With Robinson as the unfortunate half of a buddy dump, Friendship, writer-director Andrew DeYoung’s strange and hilarious debut feature, spins comedy gold out the straight male loneliness epidemic. Robinson goes for broke as Craig, a typical ITYSL character: pathetic, awkward, estranged from social rituals, an oddball at once sweet and a little creepy. A guy baffled by the ease of other men and desperate for their approval, whose face displays the big emotions – anger, love, jealousy – in amusingly bold, bright primary colors.

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