# Adult Best Friends
**Adult Best Friends** is a 2024 American comedy film directed by Delaney Buffett, her feature directorial debut, in which a woman takes her codependent childhood best friend on a girls' trip to their hometown beach town to break the news that she is getting married. Buffett co-wrote the film with Katie Corwin, and the two play fictionalized versions of themselves under their own first names, drawing on a friendship of more than twenty years.[1](https://tribecafilm.com/festival/archive/adult-best-friends-2024) • [2](https://pastpresentfeature.com/delaney-buffett-adult-best-friends-interview/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director / writers | Delaney Buffett (director); screenplay by Delaney Buffett and Katie Corwin[1](https://tribecafilm.com/festival/archive/adult-best-friends-2024) |
| Leads | Delaney Buffett as Delaney and Katie Corwin as Katie, fictionalized versions of the real-life co-writers[2](https://pastpresentfeature.com/delaney-buffett-adult-best-friends-interview/) |
| Premiere | World premiere at the 2024 Tribeca Film Festival, U.S. Narrative Competition[1](https://tribecafilm.com/festival/archive/adult-best-friends-2024) |
| Streaming debut | Exclusively on Max in the U.S. on May 2, 2025; HBO linear debut May 3 at 8:00 p.m. ET[3](https://ebs.publicnow.com/view/47357F53A6830DBD8699BEB4AB920AFDDD43E349) |
| Notable cast | Zachary Quinto (Henry), Mason Gooding (John), Cazzie David (Roxy), Casey Wilson (Alex)[4](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/adult-best-friends) |
| Reception | 85% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer (13 reviews, average 6.2/10); 5.2/10 on IMDb[5](https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/adult-best-friends/umc.cmc.kptm4s5zjwwfx6oo2elvu4ot) |
| Production | Produced by Delaney Buffett and Marie Nikolova; executive producers Zachary Quinto, Katie Corwin, Adam McCurdy, and Evan Arnold[6](https://www.visitfilms.com/adult-best-friends) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
Katie and Delaney have been inseparable since childhood, but in their 30s their paths diverge: Katie is happily committed and living with her boyfriend, while Delaney is single and lives with a roommate, and the friendship remains a top priority for both. When Katie's boyfriend John proposes, she plans a nostalgic trip to their childhood beach town intending to soften the blow by sharing the news in a familiar setting. The journey takes unexpected turns involving a bizarre rental homeowner, a chance encounter with a former classmate, a bachelor party, and potential love interests, and Katie hesitates and withholds the news, putting the lifelong friendship in peril.[5](https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/adult-best-friends/umc.cmc.kptm4s5zjwwfx6oo2elvu4ot) Tribeca's festival notes describe the setup as a buddy comedy about the double-guessing involved in the bridge from young adulthood to midlife steadiness.[1](https://tribecafilm.com/festival/archive/adult-best-friends-2024)
## Origins and production
Delaney Buffett found the idea midway through her toast at the wedding of her childhood best friend, Katie Corwin: she began joking about being "replaced" by Corwin's husband, then realized it was not entirely a joke. Influenced by comedies such as *Bridesmaids* and *Booksmart*, Buffett wanted the heart of the film to be the authentic friendship between two women, so she and Corwin wrote it together and played the leads. Buffett directed and assembled a cast of real-life friends, including Cazzie David, Cory Walls, and [Zachary Quinto](https://www.edgepedia.org/zachary-quinto).[7](https://airmail.news/arts-intel/events/adult-best-friends) Buffett is the daughter of musician [Jimmy Buffett](https://www.edgepedia.org/jimmy-buffett), and the pair had previously collaborated on a web series before developing the feature with producer Marie Nikolova, who had worked with Quinto; Quinto's company helped produce, and he plays Katie's brother Henry.[2](https://pastpresentfeature.com/delaney-buffett-adult-best-friends-interview/)
Because the leads are real best friends who rarely said affectionate things aloud, performing the dialogue to each other's faces changed the film: the two cried on set, and Buffett realized in the edit that she had made what she calls more of a romantic comedy between friends than a hard comedy.[2](https://pastpresentfeature.com/delaney-buffett-adult-best-friends-interview/)
## Release and reception
The film premiered at the 2024 Tribeca Film Festival as a world premiere in the U.S. Narrative [Competition](https://www.edgepedia.org/competition).[1](https://tribecafilm.com/festival/archive/adult-best-friends-2024) Gravitas Ventures gave it a theatrical release, and it made its streaming debut exclusively on Max in the United States on May 2, 2025, followed by an HBO linear airing on May 3 at 8:00 p.m. ET.[3](https://ebs.publicnow.com/view/47357F53A6830DBD8699BEB4AB920AFDDD43E349) It later became available on [HBO Max](https://www.edgepedia.org/hbo-max) and Cinemax channels, for digital purchase or rental on Amazon Video, Fandango At Home, and the Apple TV Store, and on DVD and Blu-ray.[4](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/adult-best-friends)
Critical reception divided along familiar lines for the subgenre. On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an 85% Tomatometer from 13 reviews with an average rating of 6.2 out of 10, while IMDb users give it 5.2 out of 10.[5](https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/adult-best-friends/umc.cmc.kptm4s5zjwwfx6oo2elvu4ot) Tribeca's festival write-up praised its zippy dialogue and self-deprecating humor,[1](https://tribecafilm.com/festival/archive/adult-best-friends-2024) while one reviewer found it overly derivative of *Frances Ha* and *Bridesmaids*.[8](https://www.mattpais.com/movie-reviews/2025/5/3/adult-best-friends-review) Following Tribeca, Buffett received the Golden Key for Emerging Talent at the Key West Film Festival.[2](https://pastpresentfeature.com/delaney-buffett-adult-best-friends-interview/)
Reported runtimes differ across sources: Tribeca and Fandango list 90 minutes, Visit Films lists 82 minutes, and Apple TV lists 1 hour 23 minutes.[1](https://tribecafilm.com/festival/archive/adult-best-friends-2024) • [6](https://www.visitfilms.com/adult-best-friends) • [5](https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/adult-best-friends/umc.cmc.kptm4s5zjwwfx6oo2elvu4ot)
## References
1. [Adult Best Friends | 2024 Tribeca Festival](https://tribecafilm.com/festival/archive/adult-best-friends-2024)
2. [Delaney Buffett on Adult Best Friends & Comedy's Heart, Past Present Feature](https://pastpresentfeature.com/delaney-buffett-adult-best-friends-interview/)
3. [ADULT BEST FRIENDS Begins Streaming Exclusively On Max May 2, Warner Media LLC press release via Public Technologies](https://ebs.publicnow.com/view/47357F53A6830DBD8699BEB4AB920AFDDD43E349)
4. [Adult Best Friends streaming: where to watch online?, JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/adult-best-friends)
5. [Adult Best Friends, Apple TV](https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/adult-best-friends/umc.cmc.kptm4s5zjwwfx6oo2elvu4ot)
6. [Adult Best Friends (2024), Visit Films](https://www.visitfilms.com/adult-best-friends)
7. ["Adult Best Friends" Is Available for Streaming: Arts Intel Report, Air Mail](https://airmail.news/arts-intel/events/adult-best-friends)
8. ["Adult Best Friends" is just reruns, Matt Pais](https://www.mattpais.com/movie-reviews/2025/5/3/adult-best-friends-review)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Comedy and romantic films (individual works) › Comedies of 2024 › Titles symbols to L*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license