Adult Best Friends is a comedy about the moment a lifelong friendship has to make room for a major change: Katie is preparing to marry, while Delaney is not ready to lose the closeness they have always shared. Its strongest appeal is that familiar, uneasy bond; its weaker stretches come when the trip’s comic detours pull attention away from it. The result is flawed, but its central friendship gives the film a reason to stick with it.
What is Adult Best Friends about?
Directed by Delaney Buffett and written by Buffett and Katie Corwin, the 90-minute U.S. comedy follows childhood friends Katie and Delaney as their adult lives begin to diverge. Katie is committed to her boyfriend, John. After he proposes, she plans a nostalgic trip with Delaney to their childhood beach town, intending to tell her about the engagement there. But Delaney’s feelings weigh on Katie, and she delays the conversation. The trip becomes a setting for the thing neither friend can comfortably say: their relationship may not keep the same shape as they grow up.
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That tension is more specific than a simple road-trip setup. Katie’s news is happy, but it also threatens the intimacy and priority Delaney associates with their friendship. The film’s central question is whether the two can acknowledge that change without treating it as a betrayal.
Does the friendship feel convincing?
Buffett and Corwin play the friends they co-wrote, making their shared performance the film’s main asset. Their history is not just backstory; the comedy depends on the sense that they know each other well enough to be affectionate, irritating, and awkward in the same breath. When the story stays with Katie and Delaney, their difficulty discussing the engagement gives the film recognizable emotional stakes.
#1 Best Overall
Neither friend is simply right. Katie’s delay makes an already difficult conversation worse, while Delaney’s fear of being displaced can make her hard to accommodate. Those flaws create useful friction when they reveal attachment and anxiety. They are less satisfying when the behavior seems to keep a comic scene going rather than move either character toward a clearer understanding.
Where does the comedy work—and where does it wander?
The humor is built around self-deprecation, discomfort, and the uneven rhythm of two close friends trying to act as if nothing has changed. That approach suits the premise: the characters can be funny precisely because they are not handling the moment gracefully. Tribeca’s 2024 festival description highlighted the film’s zippy dialogue, closeness, and self-deprecating humor; those are the qualities it aims for, though the festival’s description is not a guarantee that every beat lands.
Rank #2
The episodic encounters and complications on the trip can loosen the film’s focus. Some detours add comic texture, but the story is most engaging when they expose something about Katie and Delaney rather than temporarily replace their conflict. Viewers looking for a tightly plotted journey may find those stretches uneven; viewers more interested in the uncomfortable comedy of friendship may find enough recognition in the leads to stay invested.
How does the supporting cast fit in?
The official cast listings name Mason Gooding as John, Zachary Quinto as Henry, Cazzie David as Roxy, and Carmen Christopher as Phil. The surrounding characters give the trip additional energy, but the film’s emotional center remains the two friends. The ensemble is most useful when it sharpens the pressure around Katie and Delaney; the more an encounter feels detached from their relationship, the easier it is for the central story to lose momentum.
Rank #3
Release, availability, and reception
Adult Best Friends premiered at the 2024 Tribeca Festival in the U.S. Narrative Competition. That festival year is distinct from its U.S. commercial release: Rotten Tomatoes lists a limited theatrical release on February 26, 2025, and streaming on February 28, 2025. Warner Bros. Discovery announced that it would begin streaming exclusively on Max in the U.S. on May 2, 2025, followed by an HBO linear airing on May 3 at 8 p.m. ET. Hulu’s catalog currently lists the film with an HBO Max add-on, which carries an additional subscription charge; availability and plan details can change, so check the listing for your region.
At access in 2026, Rotten Tomatoes displayed an 85% Tomatometer from 13 critic reviews and a 73% Popcornmeter from 50-plus audience ratings. These are dated platform aggregates from relatively small review and rating counts, not a definitive measure of how viewers will respond.
Rank #4
Verdict: Is Adult Best Friends flawed yet fun?
Yes, with the friendship doing most of the work. Buffett and Corwin give the story a recognizable core: one friend’s engagement is both good news and a source of loss for the other, and neither knows how to navigate that without making things worse. The comic detours and occasionally frustrating behavior keep the film from feeling consistently focused, but its portrayal of a close friendship under pressure is warm and legible enough to make the uneven journey worthwhile.
Quick Recap
Best Value
- Two friends (Julia Roberts and Dermot Mulroney) go from an impossible possibility to an unimaginable reality in this romantic comedy.
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