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A24 released the trailer of their upcoming film Friendship starring Tim Robinson and Paul Rudd on Tuesday, February 11, 2025. Billed as a comedy as per Variety, the Andrew DeYoung film has raised significant expectations with the trailer gathering over 2.3 million views within three days on YouTube.
Friendship is notably the first film starring Robinson in a leading role as well as marking the directorial debut of Andrew DeYoung in a feature film. Other actors starring in the project include Class of ’09 star Kate Mara, It franchise star Jack Dylan Grazer, Scream VI actor Josh Segarra, and Billy Bryk from When You Finish Saving the World.
Expectations ride high on the film to be a hilarious ride with two comedy veterans in the lead. Robinson has made his mark with shows such as Detroiters and I Think You Should Leave with Robinson, while Rudd has flexed his funny bones in films such as Anchorman, Wet Hot American Summer, as well as the new Ghostbusters films.
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Friendship will release in theaters in May 2025
Friendship debuted to positive reviews at the Toronto International Film Festival’s Midnight Madness back on September 8, 2024. In the same month, A24 bought the distribution rights of the film in the United States. It is presently slated for a May 2025 theatrical release, after premiering at the South by Southwest (SXSW) film festival on March 9.
In the movie, Tim Robinson plays the role of a suburban dad in the film named Craig Waterman who strikes a strong bond with his new neighbor Austin Carmichael, played by Paul Rudd. IN the trailer, Craig is seen being enamored by Austin's lifestyle and embracing his world wholeheartedly. His voiceover is heard over scenes of friendly bliss, saying,
“It’s full of pals. I’m on the edge of life, and the view is gorgeous.”
However, his hopeful spirit is brought crashing down as Austin tells him soon afterward that they should go “go their separate ways." The ensuing chaos makes up the rest of the film.
Plot summary for the new A24 film Friendship
As per the film synopsis, Robinson's Craig was pulled into the orbit of Austin, played by Rudd as a result of a misplaced delivery. With time, it blossomed into a sweet bromance over a shared appreciation of punk rock and antiquities. However, Craig's obsessive personality pushes his friend away, and his attempts to set things right threaten to ruin both their lives. A press release of the film published by Rolling Stone reads,
“Writer-director Andrew DeYoung takes Tim Robinson’s signature cringe to the big screen in a laugh-until-you-cry nightmare comedy about male bonding gone wrong.”
Crew revealed what made Friendship work
In an interview with Deadline in September 2024, writer-director Andrew DeYoung opened up about his inspiration for making the film, saying that he was struck with the idea for the narrative in 2018 after he met someone at work with whom felt he could be friends. When he asked the person to hang out with him after the job ended, he was apparently "blown off" much to his surprise.
"And I caught myself spinning out about it. I'm like, "Oh wow." I’ve never seen two grown men’s friendship fall apart in a movie in a certain way, so I just started playing around with that idea, and then it eventually became this," he elaborated.
In the same interview, Tim Robinson and Paul Rudd also shared what appealed to them about the project.
"When Andy sent it to me, it was like the fastest I’d ever read anything. It was just really funny and sad, in a lot of ways, and I liked how sad the character is," Robinson shared.
His opinion was echoed by Rudd, who found the characters "relatable," and observed that the world portrayed in the film was one in which everyone was trying to do their best but was limited by the means to do it well. He said that this made the situation both "funny and sad" and added to the charm of the narrative, calling the story "the right amount of weird."
The film is scheduled to release in May 2025 in theaters.
