Film Review

Friendship (2024) — embracing the hilarity behind male loneliness

A suburban dad falls hard for his charismatic new neighbour.

Unabashed social dysfunction has been a prolifically successful staple of modern ‘cringe comedy’ for decades, but few comedians in the last several years have decided to fully commit to that conceit as vociferously as Tim Robinson. Social cues are best read and understood when they’re conveyed effortlessly — and Robinson’s someone willing to display a persona who’s investing as much strained, tenuous effort as humanly possible into conveying those cues himself, so much so that it’s as disquieting as it is gut-bustingly hilarious.

Look no further than the first sketch of his marquee Netflix series I Think You Should Leave, in which Robinson’s character, faced with a push-door that halts after he tries pulling on it, tugs on it with all of the strength he can muster, causing the door to creak on its hinges before eventually breaking the doorframe wide open and straining to the degree where his forehead veins are about to violently burst out of his face. The best part? He’s done that after what…