Early in The Friend, the adaptation of Sigrid Nunez’s National Book Award winner by writers/directors Scott McGehee and David Siegel, a character asks “What’s gonna happen with the dog?” It’s a question we always ask in movies centered around dogs, afraid that we’re gonna get Marley’d or Old Yeller’ed and become a weepy mess at the end of the film. But while The Friend is about tragedy, loss, and grief, have no fear, the dog is fine. In fact, the dog is the one who’s depressed!

What Is ‘The Friend’ About?
Image via Big Creek Productions.

Walter (Bill Murray) was a close friend and mentor to Iris (Naomi Watts), before he committed suicide. Walter was a celebrated author, who was married three times, and the owner of a massive Great Dane named Apollo. With the passing of Walter, Iris is left picking up the pieces of his life, whether it’s dealing with those three wives or working with his recently discovered daughter (Sarah Pidgeon) on putting together a book of Walter’s correspondences during his life. But the biggest issue that Walter left behind is Apollo, who Walter wanted Iris to take care of after his passing. Iris doesn’t know what to do, since her Manhattan apartment doesn’t allow dogs, but wanting to honor his wishes, she brings the dog home with her.

But Apollo is clearly grieving his former owner. Apollo takes up residence on Iris’ bed, with one of Walter’s old shirts constantly by his side, as his big, sad eyes show that he misses his best friend. As Iris tries to figure out what to do with this massive dog she’s not allowed to have, and how to proceed with the book on Walter’s life, she starts to form a bond with Apollo, as the two deal with the loss of Walter in their own ways.

‘The Friend’ Is Best When It’s About Naomi Watts and a Big-Ass Dog
Image via Big Creek Productions.

The Friend is primarily about the growing bond between a dog and its owner, and as this strengthens, the film similarly grows stronger. McGehee and Siegel take a very light comedic approach to this subject matter, and while it’s never laugh-out-loud funny, it’s quite often charming in its way. While The Friend has Iris trying to reckon with Walter’s death, exploring his legacy with his book, and reckoning with the wives of Walter, it’s the parts when the film focuses on Iris and Apollo that truly matter.

For Watts, this is a role that asks her to explore depression and loss, but primarily by playing against a dog the size of a small horse. The fact that she can pull off these feelings effectively makes this one of her finest performances in years, even when the story does occasionally fall into melodrama and cliché. But to be fair, Watts’ scene partner, Apollo (played by Bing, giving an all-time great dog performance), is giving her plenty to work with. His big, sad eyes are presenting every feeling that Iris isn’t stating, a sorrow that is deep and unpredictable. Apollo is a perfect sympathetic companion, an external manifestation of emotions that Iris isn’t ready to explore about herself quite yet.

It’s when The Friend gets away from this bond that the film isn’t as compelling. Iris’ attempts to get a book going about Walter aren’t nearly as interesting as the movie seems to think it is, and Iris’ interactions with the wives, played by Carla Gugino, Constance Wu, and Noma Dumezweni, don’t really go anywhere. It’s almost as if whenever Iris and Apollo aren’t on the screen together, the film gets significantly less interesting. It’s when it gets away from this core relationship that the privilege of Iris’ situation starts to come out, creating problems that don’t seem all that important in the grand scheme of things. For example, the way The Friend wraps up Iris’ issue with keeping Apollo in her apartment is an easy solution, and one that showcases her ability to cheat the system meant to help others for her own means. The Friend wants to be a human drama, but it only truly succeeds when it’s also a drama about a dog.

Thankfully, when the film focuses on this bond between Iris and Apollo, it’s usually based in this exploration of loss that Iris can’t explain and Apollo obviously can’t vocalize. Even when they’re sitting in silence together, we know the weight that is pressing down on both of them. When The Friend comes out and has Watts’ narrating her grief, explaining what she’s feeling, and writing through the loss of Walter, it always feels more forced than just allowing Iris and Apollo to quietly sit with these feelings in their own way.

‘The Friend’ Doesn’t Know When to Quit
Image via Big Creek Productions.

Siegel and McGehee, who previously directed What Maisie Knew and Montana Story, effectively tell this story, but it is not without its bumps. The way The Friend is shot is, at times, far too saccharine, almost as if it’s getting ready to fall into the tropes of those aforementioned tragic dog films, before pulling back. It’s a style that makes this story a bit more generic than it should be. And again, while the script, also by Siegel and McGehee, often hits on lovely moments when it sticks to the bond between dog and new owner, it’s frequently overwritten and exhausting in its exploration of its themes. For example, The Friend seems like it’s going towards one obvious conclusion, but then keeps going and going, with more potential endings than Return of the King. The Friend diverts from the book’s ending, and almost acts like it’s trying to write its way through making this decision.

The Friend is solid when it focuses on Iris and Apollo the dog, and falters whenever it gets away from that core relationship. McGehee and Siegel’s adaptation is strong when it keeps things simple, but too often, it attempts to be as literary as the book, overwriting these concepts and hurting itself in the process. The Friend’s heart is in the right place, but it can’t get out of its own way.

The Friend screened at the Toronto International Film Festival.