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It's Been a Minute

Are you caught in a bad bromance?

It's Been a Minute

NPR

News Commentary, Society & Culture, News, Spirituality, Religion & Spirituality

4.68.8K Ratings

🗓️ 29 October 2025

⏱️ 21 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

What can we all learn from stories of men trying to find friends...and failing?

Men in real life - and in the movies - are trying to figure out how to be friends. There's been a lot of talk alleging lonely men are the cause of cultural tensions, and Hollywood has caught on (despite a similar number of women saying they are lonely, too!). Several films this year depict how society leads men into fraught, messy friendships. So, what can we all learn from toxic (or good!) friendships between men?

Brittany is joined by NPR arts and culture reporter Neda Ulaby and IndieWire awards editor Marcus Jones to dig into it.

(0:00) We're all obsessed with lonely men...why?
(3:12) 'Friendship' and how to deal with being rejected
(8:17) 'Twinless' and how friendship is kinda romantic
(13:43) 'Lurker' and how real life relationships are parasocial too
(17:55) What male friendships can teach us all about being more vulnerable

Follow Brittany Luse on Instagram: @bmluse

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Transcript

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0:00.0

Support for NPR and the following message comes from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

0:05.4

RWJF is a national philanthropy working toward a future where health is no longer a privilege but a right.

0:12.1

Learn more at RWJF.org.

0:17.6

So I don't know if you saw this, but earlier this year there was this viral social media trend

0:22.6

where guys would call each other to say goodnight.

0:25.5

My brother.

0:27.2

Oh, it's a gooch.

0:28.4

Man, cool him, bro.

0:29.4

I was just calling to say good night, bro.

0:31.2

Good night, dog.

0:33.5

It went viral because the premise was that this was a funny thing for guys to do, that this kind of bonding between men was unexpected.

0:43.0

Yeah, I just wanted to give you a call, man, and just wish you a good night and sweet dreams.

0:50.6

Thank you.

0:51.8

To me, it was another example of our culture's current obsession with a so-called male loneliness crisis,

0:59.4

that men are struggling to connect with each other, and that's what's leading to a whole host of cultural tensions.

1:05.7

Now, roughly equal shares of American men and women say they're often lonely,

1:10.1

but I bet you've seen at least

1:12.5

a think piece or two about men. And Hollywood seems to have caught on to this. There's a whole

1:19.3

slate of films from this past year about deeply fraught friendships between men.

1:24.9

What do people want more than anything in the whole world?

1:28.8

A good relationship.

1:33.1

There's friendship starring Paul Red and Tim Robinson,

...

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