Some movies find their audience in theaters, but the Naomi Watts and Bill Murray dramedy, The Friend was not one of them. The movie, which adapts Sigrid Nunez’s National Book Award-winning novel, was given a very muted release in early 2025, and despite receiving fairly positive reviews, the movie made a tiny $4.9 million during its short theatrical run. However, it seems that man’s best friend is actually a streaming release, which has finally allowed the movie to find plenty of friends.
For the many people who missed it on its initial release, The Friend is about Iris (Watts), a New York writer processing the sudden death of her mentor Walter (Murray) when she inherits his 150-pound Great Dane. What plays like a simple “woman and dog” story turns into a strong, poignant dramedy about grief and the way we hold onto things that we should really let go of. Directed by Scott McGehee and David Siegel and released by Bleecker Street, the film also stars Constance Wu, Ann Dowd, and Sarah Pidgeon.
Now, after being overwhelmed by popular IP movies during its time in cinemas, The Friend is currently riding high at #2 in the Paramount+ movie chart, sitting just behind the newly released Eminem documentary, Stans. Like so many movies that are not a sequel, prequel or remake of a popular franchise movie, The Friend has essentially had to wait for its streaming release to finally find an audience. With an 83% Tomatometer score, and 80% Popcornmeter rating, the movie delivered plenty of positives in its reviews, and could have received many more if people had just turned up in cinemas to see it.
Is ‘The Friend’ Worth Watching?
For many, there is plenty to love about The Friend, especially if you are a dog-lover or have experienced grief yourself. Described by several reviewers as “cozy, comfort cinema,” there is certainly nothing wrong with a film not being filled with sex, swearing and blazing guns. While the movie has the joint star power of Murray and Watts, the star of the show is clearly Bing, the Great Dane who plays the role of Apollo in the film, and certainly helps many reviewers get by what few niggles they have about the “simplistic, contrived script.”
Although some audience reviews do concede that this is a slow-paced movie and is “rough around the edges,” the subject matter being handled with subtlety and the film having strong performances from its central cast is enough to see it to the finish line. An echoed line in many reviews is to call the film “unexpectedly heartwarming” and a “sweet story exploring loss and friendship.”
Now that The Friend is available on Paramount+, the discovery of a movie that has clearly passed many people by has resulted in strong, belated surge of interest. Is this a sign that low-key, gentle dramas are losing their place in cinemas and are destined to become more of a fixture on streaming in the future? It is hard to say, but right now, even movies with a strong IP behind them are not guaranteed to win big at the box office, so it begs the question; what chance did a small movie about human grief ever really have?
The Friend
2.5
/5
- Release Date
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March 28, 2025
- Runtime
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120 Minutes
- Director
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Scott McGehee, David Siegel
- Writers
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Scott McGehee, Sigrid Nunez, David Siegel
- Producers
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Liza Chasin, Naomi Watts
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