Promising Comedy Gets Its Most Important Character Wrong [Tribeca]

The 2026 Tribeca Film Festival is well underway, and with it comes the premieres of a slew of new movies. One of these is That Friend, which taps into that familiar experience of having a friend in your life that, despite their best intentions, ends up making everything far more difficult (and annoying) than it needs to be. The film, which is directed by Alex Wall and Will Sterling, follows Henry, played by Josh Brener, and Paul, played by Harvey Guillén. They’re two friends who have been close for decades, but have grown apart in recent years, and their relationship is further put to the test as Paul crashes Henry and his girlfriend Penny’s (Billie Lourd) romantic getaway.

That Friend is a promising story that most audiences will be able to relate to, which leaves just one question: Does it fulfill the potential of its premise? The answer is complicated. The film is a comedy, playing on the humor of having a “third wheel” tag along on a couple’s weekend retreat. It’s a formula that has been used in a number of comedies already, from a classic like Planes, Trains and Automobiles to the more recent Due Date. However, those films are far more successful than That Friend, and for one simple reason. They are far more likely to make the viewer laugh.

That Friend’s Comedy Fails To Land

Despite such strong efforts to invoke a chuckle from the audience, That Friend ultimately features few, if any, humorous moments. Much of the comedy comes from Guillén, who gives a good performance as the eccentric, occasionally irksome Paul, but his jokes generally fail to land. The character is more annoying than anything else, as the filmmakers miss the mark on the balance between irritation and comedy. Because the movie relies so heavily on him for humor, this failure puts That Friend in a hole it’s ultimately unable to get out of.

Penny and Henry are the more serious characters in the story (the latter especially), and the film also explores the growing pains of their relatively new relationship. Paul eventually contributes to the two growing apart, and it’s in this interpersonal turmoil where the majority of the intrigue in That Friend lies. Henry is shown to be a character who is too invested in his partner’s life, which Paul points out, and that adds an extra layer to the dynamic between the duo that shifts the blame away from Paul. However, despite these attempts to place the blame of an evaporating friendship on both of them, it’s hard not to still blame Paul. The character’s miscalibraiton hurts here, too, by dampening some of the tension in the drama.

Still, That Friend is only moderately engaging when it focuses on the drama of these relationships. The second it starts to lean into the humor, it’s almost immediately dragged down. For example, there’s a recurring joke (which, oddly, ends up being one of the main storylines) in which Paul accidentally distributes acid-laced cigarettes. The gag falls flat, and is simply not funny enough to be focused on as much as it is. In many ways, this sums up the entirety of That Friend – a film that is startlingly misguided in its humor, wasting a premise that carried with it so much potential.

That Friend does deserve credit for its bravery, however. The film doesn’t conclude in the way most would want it to, and the ending challenges audiences to accept unwanted outcomes in the same way the characters have to. However, the film doesn’t really do enough to earn this ending, leaving the final moments mixed overall.

That Friend screened at the 2026 Tribeca Film Festival.

Release Date

June 8, 2026

Runtime

87 minutes

Director

Will Sterling, Alex Wall

Writers

Alex Wall, Will Sterling

Producers

Retta, Harvey Guillén, Josh Brener, Billie Lourd, Levi Chambers