Friendship [Blu-Ray]

Director: Andrew DeYoung

Cast: Tim Robinson, Paul Rudd, Kate Mara

Release Date: August 5, 2025

A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Film Rating: 8/10
Disc Rating: 8/10

Synopsis:

Suburban dad Craig’s anodyne existence is jolted to life when he falls hard for his charismatic new neighbor. But as their easy rapport gradually buckles under Craig’s enthusiasm, his attempts to make a new adult companion threaten to ruin both of their lives.

‘Friendship’ tells the story of generally dull dad and husband Craig who has become accustomed to his repetitive and uneventful life, yet when he hits it off with his new neighbor and sparks a friendship, he couldn’t possibly be more excited and soon discovers that he desperately wants to fit in with the man and his preexisting friends. But when he begins to get amped up and is unable to avoid acting odd in his desperate attempts at inclusion, things take a dark turn which begins to affect both men and their lives as one wants to step back while the other will do nearly anything to hold on.

‘Friendship’ is written and directed by Andrew DeYoung, marking his feature length directorial debut and DeYoung does a nice job at the helm guiding along the darkly comedic and offbeat ride with care and a fittingly unique style. The film’s cast includes Tim Robinson (TV’s I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson), Kate Mara (Call Jane), Jack Dylan Grazer (Shazam! Fury of the Gods), and Paul Rudd (Death of a Unicorn), along with more and most offer solid and fully capable performances in their respective roles throughout.

‘Friendship’ is a strange, offbeat and darkly comedic exploration of one man who has become complacent in his uneventful life and gets incredibly carried away when the opportunity of an adult friend who he enjoys spending time with arises, with increasingly awkward and hilarious results. It never quite goes the direction you might expect which is always a pleasant surprise as it allows for a lot of unexpected turns and shocking moments once things start to unfold and the potential for this friendship begins to falter. It’s not only hilarious, odd and surprisingly dark, but it also has a lot of heart at times and you can’t help but become invested in the lives of these individuals, making it difficult to look away even as things get painfully uncomfortable.

Director Andrew DeYoung makes a noteworthy first impression with ‘Friendship’ which serves as his feature length debut and his unique and capable guidance of this odd dark comedy is only massively complemented by marvelous performances by lead stars Tim Robinson and Paul Rudd. The pair couldn’t be more different from one another yet manage to work together incredibly well, both in happy and unpleasant situations throughout which help the film to evolve into something very much worthwhile for those that like me often thoroughly appreciate a dark comedy that never hesitates to go off the rails as things really begin to escalate and get a bit crazy.

Overall, ‘Friendship’ is a clever, darkly humorous and offbeat look at adult friendship and the good as well as the bad that can result when trying to find friends after becoming complacent in a life entirely absent of them, and just how far some might go to prevent that potential friendship from slipping away. ‘Friendship’ does go to some curious and even surprisingly dark places at times which means it definitely won’t be for everyone, yet for those that are fans of the key cast including Robinson’s unique style of humor and for anyone that appreciates a fun offbeat, dark comedy in general it is highly recommended and well worth taking the time to give a shot. It isn’t quite what you might expect going in and it takes you for a quite strange and enjoyable ride.

VIDEO:

The Blu-ray release of ‘Friendship’ features a full 1080p High Definition presentation with the film’s original 1.66:1 Aspect Ratio. The video presentation looks very nice as a whole and it provides a richly detailed presentation that’s clean and sharp, as well as absent of any notable troubles to be found throughout. Detail is sharp and solid on characters, clothing and surroundings, in addition to most everything else, while black levels remain capably deep and rich, with bursts of color at times both in clothing and exterior settings. Overall, this is a solid high definition presentation that looks nice throughout and should please fans as well as newcomers.

AUDIO:

The Blu-ray release features a 5.1 channel DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack. This multichannel soundtrack makes a nice complement to the tale and it delivers a clean, sharp and fairly immersive audio presentation throughout. It takes advantage of all five available channels on many occasions in order to send music, nature effects and crowd chatter, plus other tidbits throughout the various speakers whenever appropriate, while never causing any dialogue or other audio elements that might be occurring simultaneously to become distorted or problematic along the way. Overall, this is a nice 5.1 DTS-HD MA soundtrack that delivers in every way required of it and shouldn’t elicit any complaints.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The Blu-ray release of ‘Friendship’ features some enjoyable extras including an ‘Audio Commentary with Writer-Director Andrew DeYoung, Director of Photography Andy Rydzewski, and Conner O’Malley’, along with a handful of ‘Deleted Scenes’ from the movie (running approximately 8 minutes in length altogether) and a ‘Conner O’Malley Extended Garage Scene’ (running approximately 12 minutes). Also included is the ‘”Men Talking in the Dark” Extended Q&A’ (approximately 19 minutes) and ‘6 Collectible Postcards with Behind the Scenes Photography’.

*Please note that the above images are taken from the Blu-Ray and resized. They will additionally suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on this Blu-Ray release are the property of their respective owners.

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Film Rating: 8/10
Disc Rating: 8/10

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‘Friendship’ is Now Available to Own on Special Edition Blu-ray & on Digital from A24

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You can purchase ‘Friendship’ on Blu-ray at Amazon HERE or directly from A24 HERE!

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