CIFF 2024 presents Adult Best Friends: A comedic take on the growing pains of lifelong friendships

By Hannah Caparino, October 8 2024—

The Calgary International Film Festival had a number of premieres that spanned across all kinds of genres. There was no shortage of dramas and comedies, but a stand out film that made its Calgary premiere was Adult Best Friends, written by Delaney Buffett and Katie Corwin. The film follows two best friends, named Delaney (Delaney Buffett) and Katie (Katie Corwin), and their journey to better understand themselves and each other as they learn how to navigate their relationships.

The inciting incident of the film occurs when Katie gets engaged to her long-time boyfriend, John (Mason Gooding), and she struggles to tell her longtime best-friend Delaney that she’ll be entering a new phase in her life with John. Katie’s plan to softly break the news to Delaney goes awry on a nostalgic trip, encountering bachelor parties and offbeat AirBnB hosts. The film’s themes of friendship and growth come to a head as the best friends’ relationship is tested, with both characters reevaluating how their relationship has lasted for years. Topics of codependency, restraint and patience are explored as Delaney and Katie learn how to develop their own identity that is not attached to each other.

Delaney and Katie’s relationship within the film is incredibly palpable and endearing, and the on-screen chemistry is the result of Buffett and Corwin’s real-life friendship. Aside from Buffett and Corwin, all the cast members bring their own comedic talents to the film, elevating the hilarity and absurdity of the film. But at the film’s core, the pre-existing relationship allows for audiences to have an insightful look at their friendship and how that closeness is represented on the big-screen.

From the quips and inside jokes, audiences are given time to become invested in the relationship between Katie and Delaney. Investing in their friendship allows for the conflict to take the centre focus of the film, emphasizing the serious consequences of the two friends separating. The cleverly written jokes and improvisation allowed for the film to explore how comedy is used as a genre to explore how different people approach complicated life changes, allowing for the conflict between the duo to create individual growth. The lifelong love and appreciation for each other is on full display and this can be seen in Delaney’s character arc in the film. The audience watches Delaney learn to accept new people into her life and take steps to be more open and vulnerable with the people she cares about.

The theme of growing apart cannot be pigeonholed into one kind of story, and Adult Best Friends shows how coming-of-age stories and the theme of growth continues to apply itself in a multitude of stories. The film provides a look at how adults are still improvising and reconciling relationships. Adult Best Friends ends on a general feeling of excitement for the next chapter of the character’s lives, with both Katie and Delaney reaffirming how their friendship can withstand change. More information about the film can be found here.