The Self-Made Male Loneliness Epidemic: Obsession & Friendship

There’s been a discussion around men and their lack of friendships or meaningful human connections for a decent amount of time. For reasons of socialization, long-running gender stereotypes, or an unfostered community, men are often struggling with feeling like they don’t have a support system they can turn to for casual or serious reasons. The men in this double feature not only struggle with their own loneliness but the obsession that comes wanting to be with someone they admire who doesn’t think about them in the same way at all.

Lead Feature: Obsession (2026, dir. Curry Barker)

Obsession is a monkey’s paw story that just gets worse and worse as it goes. Bear (Michael Johnston) is a relatively normal, perfectly attractive young man with a home and a job who pines after his friend and co-worker Nikki (Inde Navarrette). When he loses his nerve to ask her out, he makes a wish on a novelty toy (One Wish Willow, ask me about the one I got at the advanced screening I went to!) for her to fall in love with him and to his absolute amazement, it works. Nikki’s behavior is odd but not too unhinged at first for Bear to be able to convince himself that maybe Nikki just realized she was into him, but it quickly becomes clear that she is indeed under the spell they’re both trapped in.

Bear starts the movie as a bit of a sad-sack but at least one that has the audience’s sympathy. He lives in his dead grandmother’s house (with subtext that he was her caretaker for the last few years of her life) and we see him deal with the loss of his cat due to an accident so it’s well established that he might feel a bit isolated and alone. He does, however, have a small solid group of friends, including Nikki, who work and hang out together, and he even has the romantic interest of one of them – just not the one he wants. 

In a montage once Nikki has fallen for him, we see the happier side of Bear as they do all the standard, gooey, couples-in-a-romcom tripe like cooking breakfast together and laughing too much for no reason. Following this halcyon period, though, is the reality of building a relationship on such a shaky foundation. Nikki becomes increasingly deranged and obsessed with Bear, going so far as to duct tape the front door shut to keep him from leaving, then standing in one spot motionless until he gets home. While Bear originally might have been able to brush aside the lingering thoughts that he forced her into this situation, it becomes obvious to everyone that there is something wrong here.

The real twist of the knife in Obsession is that Bear doesn’t need to be lonely. He doesn’t even need to be helplessly in love with a friend who might not be interested in him. For a young guy, he’s got a lot going on for him and could certainly find a romantic partner if he put in some effort. He’s also not a complete loner with no one to turn to. The other friends in the group are concerned about his and Nikki’s strange and sudden dynamic, but they’re clueless about how to actually help. 

Instead of regrouping and moving in a different direction that might lead him closer to what he wants, Bear doubles down on his obsession of Nikki, which in turn creates her obsession with him. One can forgive Bear for being unsure about One Wish Willow actually working (especially since Nikki explains away her unusual behavior by saying she was on Molly the night he made the wish), but as it spirals out of control and he realizes he can’t stop it, he still won’t blame his own actions or truly grasp the gravity of the situation. For a good chunk of Obsession, Bear is a man who mitigated his loneliness at the expense of someone else’s autonomy. For him, that only comes around on this being a bad thing to do when it hits a point of no return.

Second billed: Friendship (2025, dir. Andrew DeYoung)

Now here’s someone who doesn’t exactly have as much going for him as Bear. Craig Waterman (played by the hilarious and bizarre-looking Tim Robinson) is a pretty average guy with a nice house, a lovely and driven wife (Kate Mara), and a son that is too close with said lovely and driven wife. When a new neighbor moves in and his packages get delivered to the Waterman house, Craig meets Austin (Paul Rudd), a local weatherman with a lot plenty of charisma, charm, and a touch of smarm. 

Craig is reluctant to make friends in general but soon becomes enamored with Austin and wants to be like him in as many ways as possible. He mimics Austin’s style and makes an attempt at his effortlessly cool manner, but since this a comedy and Craig is played by Tim Robinson, we all know how well this is going to work out. Austin is apparently used to people trying to impress him and takes in stride the bumbling affections of his new, hapless friend. As lines get crossed however, it becomes clear that Craig is a weird loner for good reason.

Friendship gets more and more desperate as the film goes on. With Obsession, it’s revealed Nikki is unfortunately not in her right mind (as chilling scene towards the end of the movie implies that she’s actually being held captive inside her own head and not in control in any way), while in this film, Craig is just socially inept and can’t step back to see his how his behavior might seem to others. 

The veneer of Austin’s charm starts to crack and Craig learns that his new buddy is a little full of shit. In an early moment in their friendship, Austin encourages Craig to toss away (literally) his cell phone and live free, unfettered. Later when Austin whips out his smart phone and Craig questions why he has one, Austin mocks him for thinking he meant anything he said. There’s also the fact that Austin wears a hairpiece and is immensely ashamed about it, leading to some of the funniest scenes in the movie where Craig sacrifices himself to keep his friend’s secret.

Between Obsession and Friendship, the difference is the level of sympathy one can have for the characters. Obsession features young people, some who are stumbling along as is common at that age, but we can see how any of them could be likable if they either just matured or stopped wallowing in self-pity. Friendship has almost no real likable characters; even Craig’s cancer-survivor wife Tami is kind of a piece of work. What both films share is the concept of creating connections and nurturing those connections while being your authentic self, and how, ultimately, no matter who you are, that is not an easy thing to do.