Based on the best selling novel, The Friend follows Iris (Naomi Watts), a woman who is looking back on her complex friendship with a fellow writer and mentor Walter (Bill Murray). Walter, while charming, brilliant, charismatic and a player, often lets those who are closest to him down. In the wake of his death, Iris, as his colleague, discovers she seemed to be closer to him than almost any of his family. She ends up tasked with taking care of Apollo (Bing), a great dane who is miserable and confused in Walter’s absence. It the tight spaces of Manhattan where Iris lives a cat would have been trouble, a tall and formidable dog is even more difficult for Iris to handle. It fits well into the post-Wes Anderson Bill Murray canon of dramedies.
The film does a good job putting you in the seat of its protagonist, as we are learning about Walter almost as much as Iris is, despite the fact that Iris is good friends with him. Apollo being thrust into her life only makes her journey with grief more overwhelming and complexing. It is this element that makes the film increasingly more interesting as we come to sympathize with Iris’s journey to win Apollo over.
In particular, Apollo as a real dog (played by Bing) does a great job. He, like any person who has a new roommate, is very cold and uncaring about how she feels about him. Iris has to discover that Apollo is also mourning Walter, maybe even more so. In a time where Iris is becoming more bitter and unhappy with a job she first loved, Apollo pushes her to embrace a new approach to life and Walter, through Apollo, remains a mentor to Iris from beyond the grave. Helmed by a subtle but nuanced Naomi Watts performance, this film lets its charm thrive through its lead actors performances while employing a talented supporting cast of actors like Ann Dowd and Constance Wu around them.
The sound mixing is a bit distracting at points. The problem with shooting in New York probably means that when you want to control the sound a lot of ADR and sound mixing is going to be need to be done. In a film that feels like we should not focus on that aspect, much of it calls too much attention to himself. Many times the sound was very confusing. The film has a taste in music that reflects those of its leads: it’s often very calming and also employs some very enticing operatic pieces to bring us into the mood of the film. The writing itself. while creating an effective story, does have some very unexpected and awkward pieces of dialogue. Its sincerity is sometimes a bit much, making some comedic situations not as biting as they could have.
Like Penguin Lessons (the last film I reviewed), the film is full of hope and sincere moments. While it’s not covering a situation as precarious as a fascist military dictatorship, it is able to use its awkward and stressful situations to look at the most human of reactions: grief. Often what we need is a different perspective on our lives and someone who is certainly going to have a different perspective on grief and loss is a dog. A dog simply wants to be loved and sometimes that is something people have trouble admitting in times of pain. When we see love, we often feel vulnerable or awkward, especially when the people we are supposed to connect with are not people we traditionally are supposed to love. Iris gets a new perspective on life and on her writing. This was a change that she was clearly not ready for (or comfortable with), but also one she certainly needed. Perhaps that is what we need in our lives sometimes.
The Friend is available in theatres on Friday, April 4th, 2025.
