Friendship, the debut feature from Andrew DeYoung, is one of the funniest and most uncomfortable films in years, and if you subscribe to one particularly dark reading of the film, it’s even more uncomfortable. And even more funny.
Warning: Friendship spoilers follow.
The film, now available on VOD after a successful theatrical run, stars Tim Robinson as suburban dad Craig Waterman, who falls hard for cool new neighbor Austin Carmichael (Paul Rudd). Their friendship briefly reignites Craig’s marriage to Tami (Kate Mara), with whom he has a teenage son, Steven (Jack Dylan Grazer).
A subplot of the film — established in the first scene — is that Tami is still very much in touch with Devon (Josh Segarra), a firefighter friend she continues to call “my ex” though she’s been married to Craig for 16 years.
Craig’s discomfort with Tami and Devon’s closeness comes to a head at a party celebrating Tami’s escape from an aqueduct where she and Craig became separated. Devon and his crew have spent all night searching for her, and Devon delivers a heartfelt toast.
“When she was lost, I was like a caveman who lost his fire,” Devon says, before calling her by her maiden name: “To Tami Pinto.”
Craig lamely objects: “Um, Tami Waterman. Actually Tami Waterman. For 16 years, that’s my best friend.”
The “16 years” is important, if you follow the dark implication we and other viewers drew from the film. During Devon’s toast, he and her son, Steven, both put their arms around Tami — and they look quite a bit like a family. Devon and Steven may even bear a resemblance to each other.
Notably, Steven is 16 — the same number of years that Tami and Craig have been married.
We Asked Andrew DeYoung: Who Is the Real Father of Craig’s Son in Friendship?
In an interview with Andrew DeYoung for the MovieMaker podcast, we asked him directly: Is the implication that Devon, not Craig, is Steven’s real dad? Perhaps a little over 16 years ago, Tami became pregnant by Devon, but married Craig out of a need to settle down with someone quickly — because Devon, for whatever reason, wasn’t an option at the time.
“Love that,” said DeYoung, who both wrote and directed Friendship. “You’re not the only one that’s brought that up. And I love when people say that, because it adds a layer that’s not intended.”
Not intended?
“It just like, ended up that way,” DeYoung said. “And I love how people can read into it. And I think it’s like, funny and I like that. I should own up to it or something.”
Also Read: Friendship Director Andrew DeYoung on His ‘Primal’ Comedy of Male Loneliness
Part of what makes the toast scene funny for us, we told DeYoung, is that the possible resemblance between Devon and Steven is only apparent at certain moments. It could all just be in Craig’s head.
“I never thought until people started to bring it up,” DeYoung. “And I think, it’s like, funny. I like it, and, yeah, it would have been funny if I intended it.”
He added: “Sometimes the gods shine down on you.”
Though the movie suggests that Devon and Tami may still pine for each other, DeYoung says his belief is that Tami has no intention of cheating on Craig, but may be more drawn to Devon than she’d like to admit.
“I see it as like, she’s not intending to cheat at all. She simply thinks it’s okay to — maybe she’s lying to herself a little bit — but she’s gonna hang out with this person from her past who’s clearly giving her the attention that she’s not getting in her primary relationship,” DeYoung explained.
He added that Craig is “not showing up in the relationship and she’s, in her own way, going to get her needs met.”
DeYoung praised Mara for bringing more depth to Tami than was on the page.
“I am dying to work with her again. She just grounds everything in such a believable way. And that’s why I cast her, because I didn’t want this to really feel like a comedy. I wanted this to have some emotion to it, and and she brings it.
“I mean, it’s like, I’m a straight man who will always underwrite a female character, and that’s what I did in this script. And I admitted it to her, and she showed up on set and brought such a gravity to it. … She goes through such a massive change in this, in this way I wasn’t quite expecting.
One of Mara’s ideas was to have Tami kiss her son, Steven, on the mouth.
“Like it was her idea to kiss her son, you know, and that kind of thing,” DeYoung said. “So funny, and just a complete professional.”
Maybe she kisses her son because he, in some confusing way, reminds her of Devon?
DeYoung laughed.
“I mean, honestly, yeah, maybe this is some unconscious, like thing that that she tapped into, that like, ultimately, is feeding this theory, which I love,” he said. ” I’m gonna start telling people that that was my idea.”
You can listen to our full talk with Andrew DeYoung on Apple or wherever you get your podcasts or right here:
Friendship is now available on VOD.
Main image: Kate Mara as Tami and Jack Dylan Grazer as Steven in Friendship, written and directed by Andrew DeYoung. A24.