Release: The Friend Zone

 

The Friend Zone

Genre: Fantasy/Comedy

Director: Michel Gondry

Writer: Joshua Collins

Cast: Chris Pratt, Anna Kendrick, Kiefer Sutherland, Dakota Fanning

Budget: $65,000,000

Domestic Box Office: $54,124,947

Foreign Box Office: $40,221,034

Total Profit: -$25,000,113

Reaction: Marketing seems to be one of the issues here. Writer Joshua Collins has called the film a romantic comedy, but it was never presented to the studio to market it as such. Genre selection - and how a film matches that selection - is an important aspect of the marketing for LRF.

“The Friend Zone has a funny premise, turning a rom-com cliché into a literal dystopia, but the execution quickly wears thin. The satire leans too hard on skits and gags, often telling us the joke instead of letting it land. Pratt does his familiar routine without much depth, Kendrick brings some warmth, and Sutherland feels wasted in a cartoon villain role. The worldbuilding is fun at first, but the middle drags and the climax collapses onto itself.” - Billy Laken, The Washington World

"Michel Gondry’s The Friend Zone takes a familiar romantic frustration and turns it into a surreal fantasy satire. The film has clever ideas about insecurity, emotional self-punishment, and the absurd rituals of modern dating, although its satire sometimes becomes repetitive. Still, the story’s gentle humor and heartfelt romance give it a satisfying emotional center." - Reggie Dunn, Sacramento Bee

"The Friend Zone has a killer premise—a dystopian town where people are literally trapped obsessing over the person who rejected them—but frustratingly never pushes the idea as far as it should.Chris Pratt is charming as the lovesick Dale, and Anna Kendrick carries the emotional weight as Corrine, yet the film feels like it’s constantly flirting with something much stranger than it actually becomes. It’s all funny and occasionally clever, but I do wish the film would have gone more all-in on the surreal nightmare the concept is capable of." - Michael Van Patten, Slant Magazine

Rated PG-13 for sexual references, thematic elements, and language.