The following contains spoilers for Friendship, now playing in theatersFriendship‘s darkly comedic ending carries a surprisingly bittersweet note of optimism between Craig and Austin. The film focuses on Craig Waterman, a husband and father leading a dull life in suburbia. When a cool new neighbor, the charming local weatherman Austin Carmichael, moves in down the street, Craig strikes up a surprising friendship with him. However, Craig’s hang-ups and awkward tendencies push him away from this potential bond with Paul Rudd’s Austin, which in turn reveals a far uglier side of Craig.

Friendship is full of cringe humor and broad swings that alternate between laugh-out-loud funny and squirm-inducing awkwardness. It’s also a surprisingly introspective film, almost entirely focusing on Craig and only revealing more about the other characters through Craig’s mistakes and interactions. Friendship is about a lot more than just the challenges of male friendship, and actually serves as a stark and effective exploration of toxic behavior that showcases how a lonely man can make his situation worse (and even shows how one can overcome those challenges).

Craig & Austin’s Final Confrontation In Friendship Explained

Craig Holds Austin At Gunpoint But Still Earns A Shred Of Respect

The final confrontation of Friendship between Craig and Austin is one of the tensest scenes in the film, but closes out on a surprisingly optimistic beat. After seemingly making peace with his own failings and starting to actually clean up his act, Friendship‘s third act seems to be building to Craig finding a new path forward in his life. However, seeing Austin’s new sports car reminds Craig of their brief bond, pushing him to crash Austin’s party and confront them all with the gun he stole from Austin’s home.

In the ensuing chaos, Craig seems to recognize what he’s doing but decides to push this dangerous persona to distract everyone from Austin after his wig comes off. Having discovered that Austin’s hair is false earlier in the film, Craig has kept that secret even as their friendship deteriorated and ensures that no one notices amid his own ranting and raving. As a result, Austin shares a friendly wink with Craig as he’s arrested for his actions, suggesting a certain level of admiration from the former towards the latter that gives Craig something to smile about as the film ends.

Why Craig Is Obsessed With Austin In Friendship

Craig Wants More Than Just Acceptance From Austin

For much of Friendship, Craig is determined to solidify his friendship with Austin. Deeply impressed with the casual coolness and worldly nature of Austin, Craig tries to replicate his behavior with his own family — which only pushes them further away. Austin is everything Craig wants to be, and being a part of his friend group seems to be vital for Craig’s sense of self-satisfaction and self-ᴀssurance. Isolated and aimless in his home life, Craig sees his new neighbor as a lifeline. Unfortunately, his awkward outreach and volatile anger ruined any chances he had of bonding with him.

Craig’s obsession with Austin is an extension of his own frustrations with his relationships and the larger world around him. Throughout all facets of his life, whether it be with his wife Tami, at work, or in his personal life, Craig never accepts fault for his actions or truly apologizes. He brushes aside condemnations, is quick to yell at others, and typically responds to everything with a false positivity that fails to account for the challenges others face. Craig isn’t interested in Austin so much as what Austin represents, which turns his friendly interest in Austin into an unhealthy obsession.

What Really Happened To Tami?

Tami Spends Much Of Friendship Trapped In Her Husband’s Orbit

Tami is Craig’s wife, who finds herself dealing with the fallout of Craig’s actions and statements. A cancer survivor who is still reeling from that battle for survival, Tami initially seems distant with Craig and hints that she’s been reconnecting with an ex-boyfriend, something Craig either ignores or simply doesn’t notice because he’s so self-obsessed. Tami becomes a prop in Craig’s life, to the point where he tries to force her to relive his experience exploring the sewers with Austin with him — getting her lost for days as a result. Tami is eventually found, but is a quietly changed woman.

Admitting that she finally found Sєxual satisfaction on her own for the first time in months, Tami bluntly tells Craig that she’s leaving him after the experience in the sewers. Although she initially moves in with her ex, the ending of the film implies that the renewed romance didn’t end up lasting too long. Instead, Friendship seems to quietly set up a reconciliation between Tami and a more self-ᴀssured Craig, at least until his final freak-out gets him arrested. While Tami’s final fate isn’t revealed in Friendship‘s ending, it’s clear she has moved beyond the quietly toxic behavior of Craig.

The Significance Of Craig’s Drug Trip In Friendship

A Visit To Subway Has Never Been So Funny (Or Meaningful)

One of the biggest laughs in Friendship occurs at Craig’s lowest moment. Having lost his family, his job, and his place in the community, Craig decides to try hallucinogens for the first time. Licking the psychoactive secretions of a toad, Craig is prepared for a mind-bending and life-altering experience. Instead, he finds himself in a Subway sandwich shop, ordering from a man who looks like Austin. Craig doesn’t even get to eat the sandwich before he awakens from the trance and is left frustrated by the experience.

However, the Subway does have a powerful secondary meaning for Craig. At the Subway, Craig acts somewhat normally compared to his typically awkward or volatile nature. He’s polite instead of awkward, and finds an easy rapport with the sandwich maker instead of a forced friendship. This symbolizes the initially friendly connection between the two men and how Craig could have maintained it by acting civil and normal to another person. The mundane setting is reflective of the very grounded nature of the film, a suggestion that Craig needs to sort himself out before he can move beyond anything else.

Even Craig’s inability to complete the order foreshadows his failure to complete his character arc, instead backsliding into cringey aggression in the film’s final stretch. The Subway reveal is one of the best jokes in Friendship, but it’s also one of the most subtle and interesting elements of the story. The sandwich store is a boring location for a mental trip, but it’s reflective of the regular trappings of life that Craig bristles against, and shows a version of him who is potentially able to interact with it but will never get the chance to.

The Real Meaning Of Friendship

Craig Is His Own Worst Enemy

Friendship is a quietly emotional movie, even though its main character is largely incapable of properly expressing his feelings. Craig isn’t the most obvious example of toxic behavior given his typically soft-spoken behavior, but he’s quietly manipulative and completely self-centered. He’s a narcissist, only focused on his enjoyment and personal fulfillment. He makes a joke about his own satisfaction when his wife opens up about lacking any Sєxual satisfaction, and brushes off his son’s frustrations in a bid to look cool like Austin.

Craig calls out Austin’s friend group for not giving him more chances to prove himself, while never trying to make amends or grow as a person after he ruins a guy’s night. He’s prone to sudden outbursts of anger and violence when someone directly calls him out or openly mocks him, which only further isolates him. When Craig takes time to focus on himself and becomes comfortable alone, he grows for the better. However, even the possibility of Austin not being the friend he wanted him to be pushes him over the edge in a dangerous way.

Friendship is about a form of subtle toxicity, showcasing how even quiet “nice guys” who present themselves as earnest and friendly can be cruel. Notably, no one’s life is ruined more by Craig’s actions than his own. Everything that goes wrong for Craig is something he could fix but chooses not to, or is caused by his own self-centered actions. This is what makes his genuine acts of kindness, like buying Tami’s dream van or ensuring Austin’s wig remains a secret, all the more important, as these moments of empathy are what start to earn him approval from others.

Friendship is a critique of Craig, but not a condemnation. As much as the film mines his awkward behavior and toxic traits for dark comedy, the film clearly pities his plight. He’s someone who doesn’t seem to like himself all that much and throws himself into being someone in Austin’s life. That’s what makes the wink from Austin so important, as it shows that, for all the ways Craig still hasn’t fixed himself, he has gained a level of empathy that is paid back with a small but sweet gesture of affirmation in Friendship‘s ending.