Tim Robinson is a muse for male friendships. Buddies show up to his sets wearing matching costumes and start social-media accounts dedicated to his comedy. Friendship, out in theaters May 23, follows Robinson as Craig, a husband and father who’s failed to make meaningful connections with his loved ones, meets the charismatic Austin (Paul Rudd), a new neighbor who takes him under his wing. When Austin eventually breaks off the friendship with Craig, Craig spirals in a way that Robinson has perfected. Director Andrew DeYoung believes that the intense feelings someone gets during a friendship breakup is why these relationships matter. “It could save the world if men had a few more friends,” he told Vulture at an April 5 screening at the Los Angeles Festival of Movies.
DeYoung got the idea for the film when he connected with a co-worker and hoped that they would continue to be friends after the job ended. “And then I texted him, and he didn’t text me back for days, and I was like, This fucker! and I started to spin and clock those thoughts, like, This is pathetic,” he explained during a Q&A. After channeling his complicated feelings on friendship into an A24 movie, he finally got what he wanted. “I ran into him recently, and we hung out,” DeYoung shared as the audience clapped. “They’ll never know that they inspired this movie. Absolutely not.”
