Andrew DeYoung’s Friendship

For a limited time, our friends at the EarBuds Podcast Collective are pairing a podcast with our headlining film.

This week: Behind the Bastards. The style of humor in Friendship pairs nicely with Behind the Bastards, a podcast that looks into famous assholes from throughout history.

— Arielle at EarBuds Podcast Collective

Each week, Drew creates a watchlist with film recommendations provided by you, the tnmn community.

Last week’s category: movies with the best soundtracks. The results are posted to our website and Letterboxd account every week.

This week’s category: animated movies. Reply to this email with your submission and why we should watch it. We’ll feature it in next week’s newsletter.

Note: If your submission doesn't comply with the category, I’ll give you my dog. Like, you will have to take care of my dog. Olive is a very good dog — but it’s hard to take care of a dog. Especially with everything you have going on. Everyone knows you’re being stretched thin these days. My son will be very sad about it, and you’ll have to live with that. You couldn’t follow basic instructions, and so my loving, cute little boy will wonder why his dog had to go away. So, ya know. Follow the category.

A spoiler-free description of the movie.

Craig Waterman obsesses over a new friend.

If you like these things, then you’ll like the film.

→ Tim Robinson. The creator of I Think You Should Leave. He didn’t write this movie, but he’s in the leading role and his comedic fingerprints are all over it.

→ Sonic stunners. This film is sonically astonishing. Like, comedies usually build a soundtrack with a few popular songs on it and move on. The score in Friendship is spellbinding.

→ Feeling very uncomfortable. The humor in this film is adjacent to cringe humor like The Office, Peep Show, etc.

What I liked about it.

I’d forgive you if you watched Friendship and thought: I just watched a 90-minute I Think You Should Leave sketch. The humor is nearly indistinguishable from the popular Netflix sketch comedy.

In other words, if you wanted a Tim Robinson film, Friendship will not disappoint. But describing it as such would rob the film of its ambition to be more than an overlong sketch.

Writer-director Andrew DeYoung elevates Tim Robinson’s signature brand of humor into something darker. More layered and emotionally resonant.

Much of the film’s hypnotic quality comes from DeYoung’s partnership with his composer, Keegan DeWitt (Kevin Can F**k Himself, Little Fish, Hearts Beat Loud).

It’s always hard to do a score justice in the written word. But I’m capable of so much more than other writers.

So, I will use the power of my pen to immerse you in DeWitt’s spellbinding soundscape — to articulately illustrate how impossibly magnetic the composition is. Here’s a taste:

🎵 HOO HAAH HEEE. HEE HAA HEE HAA HOOO. HAA!! HAA!! HAA!! 🎵

I know. I’m good. It’s as if I’m standing behind you, ASMR-whispering the tune into those cute ears of yours. I’m probably kidding.

For you uncultured fucks who aren’t musically-inclined enough to hear the score upon reading it — despite my genuine effort — I’ll describe it for you.

In place of a generic comedy soundtrack, DeWitt produced something alarming, engrossing, and at times, sinister.

There are elements that feel more suited to accompany Indiana Jones exploring a dark, ancient tomb than they do Tim Robinson walking through a wintry suburban neighborhood.

Paired with the score is a subdued color palette and steady-handed, longer-lensed camera-work from cinematographer Andy Rydzewski. Rydzewski shoots this more like a Paul Thomas Anderson movie than a traditional comedy.

Perhaps what really makes this film work, though, is Andrew DeYoung’s understanding of his cast and their strengths. Watching the film, you get the sense that he really gets Tim Robinson.

That he knows how to position him to succeed in his first leading role. And how to leverage Paul Rudd and Kate Mara to compliment Robinson’s humor.

All of these choices set this film apart from the countless failures of Saturday Night Live comedians who attempt to bring viral characters to the big screen.

DeYoung’s direction — focused on finding the dread, depth, and emotion in his story — makes Friendship feel as much a dramatic character study as a dark comedy. A mesmerizing lens through which we observe the unraveling of a man without friendship.

Enjoy the film.

A fact or two about the production that makes you say “oh, neat.”

→ Friendship was purposefully filmed like a drama. Muted colors. Wide shots. Subdued performances. In DeYoung’s words: “I find comedy often shot and edited and scored in a way that I think sells out the emotion going in the movie. I think the comedy might hit harder and resonate if you really ground the emotion underneath.”

→ Paul Rudd requested a script change prior to signing on. His character's original name was Brian — the same as Rudd's name in Anchorman. He asked DeYoung to change his name to Austin to avoid confusion between the two characters.

→ Subway enthusiastically signed on for the scene featuring their restaurant. I won’t ruin the scene — but DeYoung shared, “I didn't think we would ever get them. I thought I'd have to make up some fake sandwich place, and immediately, they were like, 'Yes. And do you want money?' It was like, 'Oh my God.' They were just down for anything, and it was fantastic."

One great line of dialogue from the film.