Friendship is a nightmare \u2013 especially if you\u2019re a guy.<\/p>\n
The new film, starring Tim Robinson and Paul Rudd, follows middle-aged Craig (Robinson), who spends every night sitting alone, in the same chair, until he makes friends with his neighbor Austin (Rudd). But their joint adventures end in a friendship breakup, essentially because Craig is too weird. (Warning: mild spoilers ahead.)<\/p>\n
After losing his only pal, Craig becomes obsessed with him, and the film becomes a sort of Fatal Attraction for male friendship. Craig will stop at nothing, including violent crime, to restore the connection he briefly felt with Austin, or at least get revenge on him.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s all very funny \u2013 and, at least for this man, delightfully hard to watch. Craig worships Austin, who\u2019s on TV, plays in a very loud band and knows secret passageways through the local sewer. But, as is Robinson\u2019s trademark, Craig can barely function socially himself. He panics when the two hang out, constantly says the wrong thing, embarrasses himself on a guys\u2019 night, and accidentally injures Austin and damages his home.<\/p>\n
As the comedian Eddy Burback put it<\/a>, the movie is \u201ca true horror about how devastating it is to be a dude who can\u2019t hang\u201d.<\/p>\n This, of course, applies whatever your gender. But here, the masculine rituals felt brutally resonant, dredging up buried feelings stretching from summer camp to bachelor parties: the moment when Craig can\u2019t quite scramble up a ledge and needs Austin\u2019s help; his total ineptitude at boxing; his belief that buying a drum set or showing the guys a tiny dagger he owns will somehow win their respect.<\/p>\n Friendship comes amid what\u2019s been described as a \u201cfriendship recession<\/a>\u201d among men. In 1990, 55% of men said they had at least six close friends; in 2021, the figure was 27%<\/a>, and one in seven men said they had none<\/a>. Researchers such as Richard Reeves have pointed to a huge gap<\/a> between men and women when it comes to emotionally supportive friendships and the ability to share feelings. The film\u2019s tagline plays on this much-discussed phenomenon: \u201cMen shouldn\u2019t have friends.\u201d<\/p>\n I feel like the message of the movie is: don\u2019t try and make friends as an older man<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Devin Glass<\/p>\n So what do real-life men think of all this? I recently consulted a few after a screening of Friendship at the Vista Theater in Los Angeles<\/a>, owned by noted man Quentin Tarantino. Perhaps unsurprisingly in a city that loves movies and feelings, the screening was packed on a Sunday afternoon. The crowd was fairly homogeneous in terms of age \u2013 mostly thirtysomethings \u2013 but mixed in terms of gender. The film, directed by Andrew DeYoung, generated plenty of conversation, as evidenced by the lingering crowd under the marquee afterwards.<\/p>\n Jesse Amorratanasuchad, 38, said Friendship matched his experience of male friendship \u201cto the Nth degree\u201d. His male friend, Travis Francis, 30, felt similarly.<\/p>\n Outside the Vista Theater in Los Angeles on 18 May 2025. Photograph: Matthew Cantor\/The Guardian<\/p>\n \u201cI think everybody wants to have other men in their lives,\u201d Amorratanasuchad said, but it can be difficult. He and his wife, Emily Pando, 35, have been reflecting on the issue recently, particularly as they watch their nephews grow up. \u201cIt\u2019s so difficult for men because they don\u2019t have positive friendships and friend groups,\u201d Pando said. \u201cWe were just talking about how amazing it is if somebody from gen Z or gen alpha makes it to a certain age without becoming an incel.\u201d<\/p>\n In one of the film\u2019s most memorable moments, Austin\u2019s friends gather for a beer, sharing their troubles and offering one another support before spontaneously breaking into a rendition of Ghost Town DJ\u2019s My Boo<\/a> (\u201cat night, I think of you\/I want to be your lady, maybe\u201d). It\u2019s a fantasy of what friendship can be. \u201cI took that moment of them singing as what it is like being in female friendships, or even like a girls\u2019 bathroom, which guys never get to experience \u2013 gassing each other up,\u201d Pando said.<\/p>\n