Friendship (2024)

Paul Rudd is someone I would like to be friends with. I've thought that for decades, but it was a notion strengthened by his turn in the wonderful I Love You, Man. Despite the turns taken here, Friendship is a film in line with my way of thinking. In fact, the heart of the whole thing is best summed up by asking yourself how far you would go to make things right if you became firm friends with Paul Rudd for a brief time before awkwardly spoiling the whole thing.

The feature debut of writer-director Andre DeYoung, Friendship is arguably more about the main star, Tim Robinson, who deserves to have a major moment after the brilliant and inspired lunacy of his sketch show, "I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson". Robinson does surrealism, he delivers brilliant commentary on modern life, and he isn't afraid to make things awkward. If you are familiar with his style then Friendship is not going to disappoint you. DeYoung may be in charge behind the camera, but it all feels tailored to the unique talents of Robinson.

Craig (Robinson) is a man who doesn't really do much. You would think that his wife, Tami (Kate Mara), recovering from a battle with cancer would give him a bit of oomph, but no. Craig doesn't seem to have any friends, doesn't really have any hobbies, and doesn't spend too much time outside his own headspace. That all changes when he meets Austin (Paul Rudd), a friendly neighbour who starts to show Craig some ways to start enjoying his life. But the friendship doesn't last too long, it's ended after Craig makes a bit of a fool of himself after enjoying an evening with Austin and others. Much like any sudden break-up though, someone doesn't want things to end. Not without one last chance to make amends anyway.

Brilliantly in line with the other recent work of Robinson, Friendship is both a perfect examination of the madness that affects those who suddenly find their feelings of affection/friendship/love not reciprocated and an exploration of self-confidence, masculinity, and the effort it takes to maintain a strong and enduring relationship. It IS about friendship, particularly the struggle to deal with that slightly childish concept once you're a man of a certain age, but it's also a look at how easy it can be to slide into, and become mired in, laziness and bad habits, as well as the lengths that some people will go to in order to avoid/make up for some awkward social interactions.

Brilliantly awkward and goofy, Robinson is perfect in the lead role. He's so easy to laugh that it's only much later in the movie that the neglect/mistreatment of his wife becomes crystal clear. He may not mean to cause harm, but his need to keep extinguishing his own flame ends up darkening the living space for someone who desperately needs some more light and warmth. Rudd is equally good, very much at ease playing his easygoing character with a hint of smugness and smarm that comes out more once he tries to put an end to his latest friendship. And he DOES make things clear, interestingly enough, which allows the film to focus on the escalating actions of someone suddenly spurned, as opposed to the more farcical slice of "hide and seek" it could have been. Everyone else onscreen does good work, especially considering how they have to play things fairly straight while Robinson is being consistently hilarious, but the other two I will mention are Jack Dylan Grazer (as Steven, Kate's teenage son) and Billy Bryk (a young mobile phone store worker, who also has access to some good drugs), both getting a chance to shine in a couple of scenes that have them being a bit more mature and a bit wiser than the male adult standing in front of them.

From the soundtrack choices to the editing, the production design to the lead up to various punchlines, everything here is designed to keep you on edge, but also keep you ready to laugh. If you don't like the opening scenes then you're not going to have a good time. But if you're a fan of Robinson's work . . . I cannot imagine you coming away from this disappointed. It's everything you could want, and then some.  

9/10

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It (2017)

Adapting what is, for many, a formative reading experience into a movie is always a challenge. Attempting to do that after there's already been a fantastic, and beloved, TV movie adaptation that many still view as definitive and iconic would seem to be a fool's errand. It's happened before with Stephen King works though, and I have no doubt that it will happen again. I'm not sure I would mind if they all turned out as well as this.

It, and it's worth mentioning for those who may be unaware that this is the first, albeit nicely self-contained, part of an enjoyably sprawling horror story that is spread out over two movies, is all about a group of youngster who help one another survive an extremely deadly summer in Derry, Maine. They all end up being affected by a creature that can take on the shape of their fears, although it mostly catches victims while in the shape of Pennywise the clown (Bill Skarsgård, doing such a great job that he somehow manages to equal the nightmare-inducing performance given by Tim Curry in the 1990 TV movie). That's all you need to know. Seven children, a lifelong bonding experience, and a killer clown.

Having very recently rewatched this, I am sure that I was a bit harsh on It during my first viewing experience. I did praise certain elements, particularly the mix of scares and bloodshed without a reliance on either, but I also mentioned some unnecessary CGI used, a slightly weak script, and the fact that the main characters weren't really. Well . . . present me disagrees with the past me (although I still think there are one or two bits of CGI work that didn't have to be done that way, or maybe even done at all).

With Chase Palmer, Cary Fukunaga, and Gary Dauberman figuring out the best ways to turn King's major tome into a satisfying screenplay, Andy Muschietti can stay focused on direction. The screenplay is a great blend of coming-of-age episodes and well-executed scares, even if a number of them are jump scares, and Muschietti serves the material well. The film is, in many ways, a mood piece, a painting by someone who wants to depict growing pains and common anxieties in the same picture. And, in that regard, it works. In fact, it works brilliantly, constantly evoking a growing sense of nostalgia, the blossoming of dark petals of sadness, and an impressive sprinkling of dread over every main sequence.

There are no weak performances to critique, which makes it easy for me to simply namecheck all seven members of "The Loser's Club" here; Jaeden Martell (Bill, credited here as Jaeden Lieberher), Sophia Lillis (Beverly), Jeremy Ray Taylor (Ben), Finn Wolfhard (Richie), Chosen Jacobs (Mike), Jack Dylan Grazer (Eddie), and Wyatt Oleff (Stanley). All of these characters get enough time and space to feel like more than just a scared victim, and the cast members are all perfectly cast. Nicholas Hamilton and Owen Teague are also very good, although they are given the unenviable task of playing typical King bullies who are, and Jackson Robert Scott does well enough in the role of young Georgie to cast a suitable little shadow over the entire film. As for Skarsgård, he's a creepy and brilliant delight in ways that I cannot even begin to list here. Whether pretending to be innocent and fun or showing a hint of his true evil nature, he's always an interesting depiction of a monster never quite comfortable enough in any one form to fully convince people that there's no threat nearby.

The 135-minute runtime ticks over without any pacing issues, those responsible for the adaptation from page to screen have great instincts for what to show, what to imply, and what to completely excise, and the whole thing is just about as good as you can get, certainly in the realm of modern mainstream horror. It's still hard to watch without thinking of the novel, or thinking of that beloved TV movie, but it's easily up there with the very best King movies (and the top of that particular tree has some real classics nesting there).

8/10

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Shazam! (2019)

If they hadn't been quite so desperate to catch up on the huge success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, DC could have helped themselves immensely with a much better release schedule. Instead, they just had to get their crossovers in place as soon as possible, leaving more lightweight films, such as this one, relatively sidelined. And Shazam! could have easily been one of their first big releases in this wave of movies, with the main story feeling enjoyably standalone. If you have seen this already, imagine what a great impression it could have made if released before any of the other major DC movies, with the nods to other characters and a fun cameo right before the end credits.

For anyone, like myself, who is unfamiliar with this comic book character, Shazam is a powerful man who seems pretty invincible, can throw bolts of electricity out of his hands, has super-strength, and can possibly fly (he's still figuring things out in this origin tale). This movie also has him starting off as a teenager named Billy Batson. When Billy has the power bestowed upon him by an elderly wizard type, he can transform by saying his name. Saying the name again takes him back to his everyday child form, where he is residing in a foster home alongside a young boy named Freddy, who is the only one to initially be made aware of Billy's new superpowers. There's also a major villain, of course, and that is Dr. Thaddeus Sivana, who was once given a chance to claim the powers of Shazam but was found unworthy.

Cast-wise, this is absolutely wonderful. Asher Angel and Jack Dylan Grazer are both excellent as Billy and Freddy, respectively, and Zachary Levi is an absolute blast as the adult-on-the-outside Shazam. The villainous Dr. Sivana is played by Mark Strong, who is as brilliant onscreen as he usually is, and it's perhaps telling that one of the better DC villains in recent years is also one that doesn't feel able to immediately destroy the entire world in a fit of rage. Djimon Hounsou does well in a small, but vital role, and there are solid performances from the likes of Faithe Herman, Grace Fulton, Ian Chen, Jovan Armand, Marta Milans, Cooper Andrews, and the always-welcome John Glover.

The third feature film from David F. Sandberg (who spent years crafting some great shorts, including the one that would be developed into his first full-length film, Lights Out), this is a solid, and enjoyably comedic, superhero adventure. It's a small film, in many ways, with the more important moments being grounded in the personal story of Billy and his new family. The script, by Henry Gayden, has the usual lessons about responsibility and what it really takes to be a hero, but it also provides a very positive message to those who need to learn, or be reminded, that your family isn't necessarily made up of blood relatives. You can grow close enough to good friends that you make your own family unit, but forming those attachments means that you also impact on their lives more, and vice versa.

It may lack some of the huge set-pieces that fans of superhero movies have been getting on a regular basis over the past decade or so, and some of the more fun sequences could have crammed in a few extra gags, but this is a highly entertaining family film that delivers the expected cape-wearing moments alongside a healthy dollop of Big (which is given an amusingly obvious nod at one point). Sometimes you don't need to see the whole planet put in peril. Sometimes it's a lot more satisfying to watch a kid realise how he can easily have something life-enriching that he'd always previously thought out of his reach.

7/10

You can buy the movie here.
Americans can buy it here.