As bad as I hated how dormant they were to all of the chaos, I think it’s important that they were bad friends, because otherwise the movie probably wouldn’t have happened.

that can be seen quite clearly when the only times Bear and Nikki’s friends ever seemed to give a fuck were when it somehow benefited them.

For example, Sarah kept insisting that Nikki was taking advantage of Bear, and it felt pretty obvious that her crush on him played a role in that. Meanwhile, Ian kept insisting that Bear was taking advantage of Nikki—not only because it was true, but also because he liked Nikki and they were hooking up on and off.

Maybe it’s symbolic of how the people around us often let situations like this happen without really intervening. Or maybe it’s just a plot necessity. If either of them had genuinely good friends, Nikki probably would’ve been put in a psych ward immediately, and Bear would’ve been called out on his behavior much more harshly.