The funniest joke in Companion (now streaming on VOD platforms like Amazon Prime Video) might be in the trailer: “From the studio that brought you The Notebook,” it tells us. Good one, considering how much blood Companion spills, amidst its omnipresent Valentine’s Day pink color palette and handful of cutesy rom-com moments. The trailer also reveals a twist-that-really-isn’t-much-of-a-twist, so let’s not call it a twist; I do think we should redefine “twist” as a third-act blindsiding, not a first-act thing-the-plot-builds-upon. In other words, we’ll be discussing the non-twist here, since it’s not really a twist, so this is not a spoiler warning. Anyway, the film is from freshman director Drew Hancock, and it’s a terrific vehicle for star-in-the-making Sophie Thatcher, of Heretic and Yellowjackets fame, who ends up more-than-ably carrying a slightly underdeveloped screenplay over the finish line.
COMPANION: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
The Gist: The meet-cute is suspiciously cute. Too cute – maybe even for the hackiest rom-com ever: Iris (Thatcher) sees Josh (Jack Quaid) at the grocery store. Their eyes meet. A bashful smile. A display of oranges spills all over the floor. The rest is history! We hear Iris in voiceover, saying how her life changed the day she met Josh, and it changed again on the day she killed him. Oh. No, that’s not the not-twist. We’ll get to that in a sec. Cut to Josh and Iris taking their self-driving car out to a remote locale for some time away with his friends at a swank-ass cabin that’s miles and miles away from another living person. Now, the self-driving car is far too self-driving to be believable, which tells us the movie is set in the near future. A clue? Perhaps!
Iris is anxious about hanging out with these people, though. “Remember to smile and act happy” is Josh’s advice, which, maybe you’ve noted, is a rather shitty thing to say. Sexist, insensitive and all that. But hey, some guys are just giant stinky j-holes. Josh’s friends are already there: Kat (Megan Suri) is chilly to Iris. Kat’s boyfriend owns this place, and he’s a Russian weirdo who I like to call Sergey the Mullet (Rupert Friend, and yes, you may laugh). Eli (Harvey Guillen) and Patrick (Lukas Gage) are a happy gay couple. They eat, they drink, they dance, Iris says some really intense things about how much she loves Josh, to the point where you wonder if she’s drowning in the deep deep end of the codependency pool. Then they go to bed and Josh and Iris have terrible sex. Just lousy. He grunts and rolls off and curtly says IRIS GO TO SLEEP. J-hole city.
OK, so, the not-twist that’s revealed in the trailer and is a first-act thing to build upon is, Iris is a very lifelike robot, a model I like to call the People Pleaser 2000. That’s code for “sexbot.” Everyone knows it, including us, because we saw the trailer, so no wonder Kat was so cold – she’d rather talk to a real person than Ash from Alien’s great-great-great-great-great grandmother. Some rules you should know: Iris’ programming won’t allow her to lie, and she imprints on Josh so she’ll love him unconditionally and dotingly. RoboCop would not be proud, yet. The plot point that triggers the reveal I shan’t reveal, but let’s just say it comes at poor Sergey the Mullet’s expense. And it becomes a story in which your loyalties may stand on shaky ground for a while, even though Josh’s j-holeness is never ever a question.
What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Iris vs. M3GAN. Make it happen, please.
Performance Worth Watching: Let’s just say Thatcher gives the most earnest performance in the entire movie, while everyone else is pretty much a goof – one of the ways Companion cleverly subverts expectations.
Memorable Dialogue: “You did read the user agreement, right?”
Sex and Skin: Nah. We see nothing in the lousy sex scene. The R-rated stuff is all bloody murder and the like.
Our Take: I’m somewhat happy to report that Companion doesn’t really have much to say about the existential dangers of AI or the state of toxic-male incel psychology in our culture. That shit is just plot fodder in the service of an unpredictable and funny story that puts our entertainment at the forefront and keeps us on our toes, watching with interest (kinda like the anti-Netflick). If there’s any subtext here, it sort of mirrors what Her or Ex Machina did, but in a lighter, funnier, more upbeat manner – and maybe it cheekily suggests that self-aware robots are morally superior to self-serving humans. Chew on that big pink wad of bubble gum, Hancock seems to be saying, with a wink.
And Hancock shows impressive acumen for a first-time director, keeping his offbeat tone consistent, maintaining a snappy pace for 97 minutes, inspiring strong comic performances from the cast and showing a good eye for camera placement and sharp edits. Companion leans away from being brainy neo-tech fodder and leans into dark farce as a best-laid-plans plot unravels and delivers a couple of gnarly horror-flick kills. Thatcher is the big hook here that gets ya, too, shifting from cagey to knowing as Iris transcends her limitations – or vice-versa, depending on who’s fiddling with the slider button labeled “intelligence” on the Iris-controller app. One gets the sense that the film bumps its head on the ceiling of budget and/or imagination, and strands some runners on base (e.g., a couple of bog-standard kills), but it’s ultimately admirable for its perky aesthetic, kitschy soundtrack and modest thematic ambition. You’ll be entertained.
Our Call: STREAM IT. A little vacay from AI fearmongering might do us all some good.
John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
