Lead actor Tim Robinson is honorary jester of the cringe festival that is writer/director Andrew DeYoung’s dark comedy Friendship (B-), often more interesting for its twisty takes on a funny theme than any passing resemblance to reality. Robinson plays a suburban husband and dad who falls hard for a charismatic new neighbor played by Paul Rudd. A series of increasingly unfortunate – and often quite funny – events threatens to send the burgeoning bromance asunder. The premise is a hoot, that modern men have lost the ability to properly forge functional friendships, but the details in the detours offer a decidedly mixed bag. Rudd is quite enjoyable in his role and Kate Mara is solid in a thankless part as wife of Robinson’s absurd protagonist but much of Tim’s schtick feels overly engineered for awkwardness. There’s comedy gold in many of the embarrassing episodes; a recurring joke about Marvel movie spoilers, physical pratfalls involving spontaneous singing and a curious incident opposite a psychedelic toad stand out in the askew stew. Ultimately the threadbare lead character doesn’t give the ensemble much to work with in terms of truly plumbing the insights of the film’s premise. It’s amusing but could have been more.