The Friend Review: Syrupy Writers & Canine Bonds

The syrupy tone of David Siegel and Scott McGehee’s The Friend prevents the film from garnering real, genuine emotion.

It is a story about grief and the ripple effects caused by an unexpected passing. Most of the characters in The Friend are interlaced by this melancholy, forming a giant web rooted in sadness and remembrance. Yet, this feeling is diluted by the film’s syrupy screenplay and tone, which make some segments of this adaptation feel formulaic rather than profound.

Iris (Naomi Watts) is a lonely writer who lives in the West Village and suffers from the cursed writer’s block. Her busy schedule as a college literary professor at Pace University is to blame for this lack of ideas for her next novel, ‘Eastern Bloc’, but a more serious situation has troubled her vastly: the passing of Iris’ decades-long friend and mentor, Walter (Bill Murray). His death was unexpected, leaving behind many open doors: unsettled business with his three ex-wives, a daughter from a fourth partner nobody knows about, an unfinished book, and a six-year-old Great Dane rescue, Apollo. One of Walter’s ex-wives, Barbara (Noma Dumezweni), asks Iris to care for Apollo.

Iris immediately says no to Barbara. Not only does her building forbid her from having a canine companion–a plot point that Siegel and McGehee overuse–but the favor would make her already tight, messy schedule more difficult to manage. She simply does not have the time or energy, at this point in time, to take care of Walter’s dog. Apollo reminds Iris of Walter, one of the few who understood and cared for her. But Iris knows that, like her, Apollo is grieving too, as the dog keeps waiting for his owner by the door, hoping one day he’ll return. After much convincing by Barbara, the lonely writer now has a Great Dane by her side. 

At first, Apollo is an inconvenience to Iris. Besides being a reminder of the past, the dog is huge and difficult to handle. Complications occur wherever she takes him, or even when they’re alone in the apartment, which alerts a nosey neighbor who’s eager to rat her to the landlord. As the days pass, the two develop an unspoken bond, where they telepathically understand their respective sadness after losing their closest friend. Apollo grows accustomed to living with his new owner while Iris confronts the reality of her loss in a way she had been trying to avoid. 

The Friend is not the first film in which Scott and McGehee cover the topic of grief. For example, their movies Montana Story (2022) and Suture (1993) tell the story of estranged siblings who meet after spending many years apart to tend to their past wounds and new forthcoming ones, all relating to their father’s passing. The two films couldn’t be any more different, as the former is more of a dramatic and “by the books”, yet effective and personal, feature, while the latter is a Twilight Zone-inspired thriller. However, this shows the many ways in which Scott and McGehee can explore the effects of grief and memory. Such universal topics have been used and abused plenty in modern cinema, and it is fascinating to see how these two filmmakers navigate these emotions through multiple lenses and canvases. While there are sparks of their diversity and ability to tap into the heart of the characters in The Friend, the story is dealt with in an uninspired and saccharine manner. 

The screenplay has the characters, especially Walter’s ex-wives, delivering overly scripted dialogue. Scenes that should be profoundly affecting come across as phony because of their excessively emotional tone. The Friend reminded me of the post-90s Woody Allen movies, where the dialogue is so literary that the characters often feel like they are reciting lines rather than having organic conversations, with no breathing room or space for emotion in their diction. This makes them come across as less genuine, as opposed to what the director gave us in the first decades of his career, where even with the rapid-fire dialogue – a trademark of Allen’s works – there was a complexity and nuance to the characters and their respective conversations. The difference with The Friend is that, instead of allowing the characters to exist within their grief, Siegel and McGehee leave them with little emotional depth. 

On a more positive note, Naomi Watts delivers her best work in quite a while, with a restrained yet emotional performance that makes watching The Friend a passable time. Watts has always excelled in making her characters’ emotions feel tangible, as seen in roles like Anna Ivanova Khitrova (Eastern Promises) and Amy Edgar (Luce). Unfortunately, her performance and those of the rest of the cast are not strong enough to sell the schmaltzy lines they’re given. Apart from the scenes where Iris is alone with Apollo, the dialogue tends to ring false. This is why The Friend is frustrating to watch. Every time Watts tries to add some sincerity and realness, a mushy line or one-dimensional character interrupts the moment, preventing the film from fully realizing its emotional potential. Despite the heartfelt intentions, The Friend is hard to feel.

The Friend will be released in theaters in New York on March 28, 2025, and nationwide in the U.S. on April 4.