Movie Review: The Friend

I watched The Friend last night. (Prime) You know that person who tells a long story and the first third of it you’re thinking, is this ever going to end? But then the second two-thirds unfold and you don’t want it to stop. That’s this film. So don’t turn it off. I did. Then, for some reason, I turned it back on. I’m so glad I did.

I don’t think it’s for everyone. But if you’re someone spending a little more time lately looking inward, making your world smaller and quieter, and you’ve got some relationship knots to untangle, some forgiveness to offer to yourself and to others, this might be the movie for you.

And if you have a dog, a real dog, it might change your relationship with them just a bit. Or with humans too. Which, in this very difficult time in America, might help more than any headline or podcast.

Is it possible that a movie with Bill Murray could bring out actual empathy? Could Bill Murray, yes, that Bill Murray, have a moment on screen that tugs at your heart in a big, undeniable way? Yes. Yes, he can. He actually holds the screen with his face, and he is vulnerable and it feels real. For more than a mili-second.

And Naomi Watts? She’s not Naomi Watts in this. She’s plain. She’s vanilla. She’s you and me. She’s just trying to get through it.

And in that trying, she teaches something. Don’t go looking for answers by talking to sixteen people in forty-five different coffee shops or reading 182 posts on social media. Don’t fill the silence with noise. Sit with it. Look inside. The answers are there. Be with the me that is you. Just you.

So yes, this movie that I didn’t think I’d finish turned out to be something I needed watch. No awards will be won. No box office records will be broken. But it might change a few lives. And to me, that’s what film is for.

Oh, and the dog. I’m in love with the dog. But I could never have a dog with a poop bag as full as the one Naomi Watts throws away. I know that makes me a shallow, possibly awful human, but I’m being honest with you.

There is a scene at the end where I burst into tears and thought I might never stop. So many tears for so many times gone by. And, they gave me time to recover. On a beach. Just me, Naomi and the dog.

Apollo is the best dog in the world. And my dog Bayley and I, we’re going to be better for having seen this film. Even though Bailey had no interest in it at all.