Our Friend is unlikely to see Awards-season love (after some of the recent Golden Globe nominations, that could be a feature, not a bug), but don’t overlook this small-scale, personal dramedy. Based on the true story of Nicole and Matt Teague (played by Dakota Johnson and Casey Affleck) and the friend (Jason Segal) who re-enters their life in response to devastating news, the film delivers an emotional wallop and an oddly prescient message about—you guessed it—friendship.
What’s most impressive is what this film isn’t. A few missteps and this could have been a generic, tasteless, emotionally-manipulative melodrama, with phony, cloying, two-dimensional characters. Instead, we have a sensitive, realistic approach to the subject matter, and three standout performances from our leads. It’s a tough ask for a two-hour film to capture the complexities of real people, but that is a selling point for Our Friend. The script doesn’t romanticize our main characters or their troubles, but gives us complicated, imperfect people who are trying (sometimes failing) to support each other. Johnson, for example, could have easily been relegated to a plot device for Affleck and Segal to process their emotions and experience growth. Instead, she resists being a sanded-down archetype and delivers a nuanced, layered Nicole Teague: warm and resilient in one moment, insecure and angry in another. The chemistry of Johnson, Affleck, and Segal convincingly present the ups and downs of long friendships, with its attendant mixture of comfort, familiarity, and occasional resentment. The film doesn’t flinch at presenting a rollercoaster of emotions: our happiest moments mingled with bitter disappointments and unmet expectations. We’re invested in their relationship. As aware as I was of the 124 minute runtime, I didn’t care; I wanted to keep hanging out with them.
Segal brings his usual affable charm to Dane Faucheux, the Friend in question. Unable and unwilling to hit the corporate-mandated milestones in his life, Dane is subject to patronizing reminders from exasperated family and ex-girlfriends of where he should be. Frustrated and self-conscious of his life choices, he relentlessly prioritizes the needs of his friends above his own. He is that dependable figure who shows up, the person who shares burdens, and who, ironically, continues belittling himself for not having his life together—unaware of the godsend he really is.
Director Gabriela Cowperthwaite (best known for her 2013 documentary Blackfish), complements the script and performances with real visual flair. She adds a dynamic cinematic style to a movie that could have coasted on simple framing and uninteresting visuals. Cowperthwaite shot the movie in early 2019, but its release feels better suited to the middle (tail-end? Round Seven?) of a global pandemic. This story hits differently coming off a truly bizarre, sometimes boring, and universally awful year. It’s a powerful reminder to stay true to those lofty resolutions we all made in March 2020: to care less about the nonessentials, and to show up more for the people that matter most.
Our Friend is currently in theaters and available to rent on Amazon and Google Play. It runs 124 minutes and is rated R for language.
