Hands Up Who’d Like a Hug
September 18th, 2026
MOVIE: HANDS UP WHO’D LIKE A HUG?
STARRING: KYLE MCCALLION, DON BRIDGES, JOSH VINEN, MARK A. CAMPBELL
DIRECTED BY: MICK CONNOLLY
AMovieGuy.com’s RATING: 1 ½ STARS (Out of 4)
RATED: PG-13
RUN TIME: 89 MINUTES
It’s true that it’s much harder to make friends as you get older. I’m a perfect example, since most of my friends are people I met in kindergarten. The conversation about platonic male friendships has been explored in cinema many times before, in films such as I Love You, Man and, more recently, The Banshees of Inisherin. In Australian writer/director Mick Connolly’s Hands Up Who’d Like a Hug?, grown men are searching for friendship, but instead of being funny, the film becomes uncomfortable and sad. Not exactly what you want in a friendship- or a movie.
The main character is Thomas (Kyle McCallion), a 29-year-old investment banker whose goal is to get rich and retire young. So, he achieves it. His second goal is to make friends, but unfortunately, he pushed potential friends away in pursuit of his first goal. Now that he’s retired, he awkwardly tries to make friends with anyone willing, including a homeless man named Deacon (Don Bridges). Down the block are Blake (Josh Vinen) and Logan (Mark A. Campbell), two best friends whose relationship becomes strained when Blake grows uncomfortable with Logan’s relationship with his current girlfriend, turning the two into awkward enemies. It’s a tale of two friendships, with both roads eventually leading to a collision of hurt feelings.
There is a myriad of problems with Hands Up Who’d Like a Hug?, beginning with its visual presentation, which resembles a low-budget sitcom. Unfortunately, not much of the humor lands, either. Connolly’s writing isn’t necessarily awful; the characters have their individual quirks and tropes, and the comedy seems to depend more on the performances elevating the material than on the writing itself. The bigger problem is that these two plots feel like they belong in completely separate movies. Even when they begin to merge, both stories go from lightly endearing to largely insufferable.
The friendship between Thomas and Deacon begins with a lonely man looking for a friend and surprisingly finding one in a homeless man who is also looking for a change in his life. The friendship between Blake and Logan, meanwhile, consists largely of repetitive bickering, like two birds fighting in a tree. Most of it is never funny and is instead simply annoying. As the two stories begin to collide, the problems escalate into increasingly unhinged behavior from Deacon, creating an uncomfortable tone. Connolly ends up painting an ugly picture of homelessness and domestic violence, which makes for an especially strange choice considering this is supposed to be a comedy.
Those are just some of the technical problems with Hands Up Who’d Like a Hug?, and there are plenty more. The obvious budget restrictions are apparent, with sets that often look like rented rooms. The performances are exaggerated and over the top, while the writing rarely manages to elicit more than a faint chuckle. That could perhaps be attributed to a particular Australian brand of comedy, but Hands Up Who’d Like a Hug? wouldn’t be particularly funny no matter where it came from.
Typically, I’d want a hug. But this is one hug you’ll want to pass on.
1 ½ STARS
HANDS UP WHO’D LIKE A HUG IS NOW AVAILABLE TO RENT ON AMAZON PRIME.
Written by: Leo Brady
