Saturday Night Live star Tim Robinson stars as Craig, a boring suburban guy with a wife and son but no real friends. Austin (Paul Rudd) moves into the neighbourhood. He is everything that Craig is not, with a comparatively glamorous job on TV, is a singer in a band, and has a load of mates. Craig latches onto him and they become friends, until one night when Craig’s weird behaviour forces Austin to sever ties.
There are a handful of genuine laugh-out-loud moments in this black comedy written and directed by Andrew DeYoung, and however old he gets, Rudd retains his boyish charm. However, there are more times when I found myself squirming in my seat at Craig’s cringeworthy antics. I think, he is meant to come across as a bit of a sadsack who we are meant to empathise with. Instead, he is incredibly unlikeable, bordering on mentally subnormal, and it is a mystery how he has been married to his sweet wife, played by Kate Mara, for so many years or has held down a responsible job.
To DeYoung’s credit, he tees up a predictable happily ever after ending before destroying it in the last few minutes, showing that Craig’s character is irredeemable, but that may just make this a more uncomfortable watch for a lot of people.
Rating: 6 out of 10