Companion

Reviewing Companion is as difficult as marketing it must have been. After a 20-minute set-up, the story unleashes a major twist. I can’t effectively write about the film if I don’t mention that twist, though. The second trailer strongly hints at it, as does the poster. Honestly, I knew the hook going in and wasn’t remotely bothered, but if you don’t want to know, stop reading here and come back after you’ve seen it.

Iris (Heretic’s Sophie Thatcher) and her boyfriend Josh (Jack Quaid) venture to a lakeside estate owned by Russian businessman Sergey (Rupert Friend). Also attending are their friends Kat (Megan Suri), Patrick (Lukas Gage), and Eli (Harvey Guillén). It’s very clear that Iris is madly in love with Josh, and there’s a reason why: she’s a robot “companion” he has acquired for sex and partnership. Okay, that’s the big twist. Subsequent twists will not be revealed, except to say that Iris discovers the gathering is not the romantic getaway it was pitched as, leading all hell to break out.

The reason Companion can’t be properly reviewed without that one spoiler is because a major part of what makes the movie work is its theme of male control. Josh can control Iris from an app on his cell phone. She exists exclusively to satisfy him, to stroke his ego (among other strokable things). As she gains awareness of her robot status, a wicked battle breaks out between them. He, of course, has an unfair advantage, requiring her to figure out how to circumvent the power that app affords him. Through dark humor and more than a little gruesome violence, the story dissects the mindset some guys have where they view their girlfriends not as individual human beings but as property, there solely to meet their needs.

Writer/director Drew Hancock does this through a plot that throws surprising developments at the audience on a regular basis. This is not the kind of picture where you can easily predict what will happen next. New wrinkles continually make Iris’s predicament more complicated. Some are funny, others horrific. Being surprised by the movie again and again is among its biggest joys. You sit up and pay attention every step of the way, eagerly waiting to see how Iris will respond to each additional challenge.

Sophie Thatcher delivers a wonderful performance in the lead role. The actress has a tough task, as she needs to convince us that Iris cannot fully escape the programming that forces her to be attentive to Josh while simultaneously conveying that this robot desperately recognizes the need to escape his clutches. Thatcher does that perfectly, allowing us to fully buy into the overall premise. Jack Quaid makes a first-rate foil for her. He turns Josh into a guy who’s charm just barely masks the sense of inadequacy that prompts him to get a robot girlfriend in the first place.

Companion is thoroughly entertaining as a horror-comedy with romantic overtones. Enough wild events take place to guarantee you never grow bored. It also succeeds as a commentary on toxic men – wolves in sheep’s clothing who define their worth by the “hotness” of their girlfriends and the level of devotion those girlfriends show them. Even if the supporting characters are a little thinly drawn, the movie’s devious pleasures are undeniable.


out of four

Companion is rated R for strong violence, sexual content, and language throughout. The running time is 1 hour and 37 minutes.


© 2025 Mike McGranaghan