To say that Tim Robinson's brand of cringe comedy is an acquired taste is to understate the obvious for those familiar with his Netflix comedy series "I Think You Should Leave, " and, frankly, I was only able to hang with this champion of discomfort for two episodes before having to bail -- ditto for Dave, Rami and Fleabag.
For Friendship, Robinson (primarily a television performer) teams with writer / director Andrew DeYoung and perennial chummy good-guy Paul Rudd to tell the story of bad relationships getting worse despite the efforts of all parties involved to .... nah, I can't say they work hard or smartly to avoid the series of disasters that follow Robinson's Craig meeting new neighbor Austin (Rudd).
Craig is a gratingly clueless manchild married to cancer survivor / floral designer Tami (Kate Mara), who has renewed a relationship with her ex-husband. Craig and Tami are parents to the weirdly oedipal 16-year-old Steven (Jack Dylan Grazer). They live in suburbia in a stateless town named Clovis and are trying to sell their house.
When Craig, a predatory marketing consultant with no filter, meets local weatherman Austin, their friendship blossoms quickly but just as quickly starts to lose its petals ... in fistfuls.
The film is a series of bad notions that lead to worse problems and disastrous fixes. Though frequently hilarious -- both Robinson and Rudd are totally committed to the chaos -- the friendship spin-out might be exhausting for those who do not give themselves over to the insanity.
For those who stick with it, the genius in all of this stupidity might be in how it gets the audience to reflect on these enormously unlikable characters to see if we have any of their distasteful traits.
When viewed that way, Friendship might be a good thing.