Companion is an amusing little trifle.
The idea that people wish to have a romantic companion with no real feelings or emotional complications is nothing new. Ira Levin cracked that nut over fifty years ago when he wrote The Stepford Wives. Having oppressed people rise up and find freedom is as old as the hills. The old tropes can be made fresh again if done well enough, as with Get Out. Unfortunately, despite its featherweight entertainment factors, Companion fails to re-invent the wheel.
I certainly had no trouble sitting through Companion. It's well acted and the movie is very nicely shot and edited. However it has the soul of a sitcom.
Jack Quaid is suitably wormy as the guy with a robotic partner. He's the son of Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan. There are times when he looks eerily like his father, and at other angles I can see Meg's shining face in Jack's.
Sophie Thatcher is so cute as the titular companion it's almost otherworldly. Her role is the mechanical heart of the picture and she's more than up to the task.
The support characters all do their parts with competence. The whole thing just feels as insubstantial as Jack and Sophie's relationship. Companion goes down smoothly, but like an extra large serving of stewed prunes it went straight through me, leaving a hollowed-out feeling.
There's ample violence in Companion, but as with The Monkey it's silly and about as effective as a Road Runner cartoon.
Go ahead and watch Companion and you'll likely be entertained. I don't think many will wish it to be a permanent addition to their collection, so stream it. Or, as I did, borrow a DVD from a library. Some are still loaning out physical media.
It could be a lot better, but for God's sake Companion could have been infinitely worse. Part of me is still dead from watching the Stepford Wives remake in a theater twenty years ago.
Written by Mark Sieber
The idea that people wish to have a romantic companion with no real feelings or emotional complications is nothing new. Ira Levin cracked that nut over fifty years ago when he wrote The Stepford Wives. Having oppressed people rise up and find freedom is as old as the hills. The old tropes can be made fresh again if done well enough, as with Get Out. Unfortunately, despite its featherweight entertainment factors, Companion fails to re-invent the wheel.
I certainly had no trouble sitting through Companion. It's well acted and the movie is very nicely shot and edited. However it has the soul of a sitcom.Jack Quaid is suitably wormy as the guy with a robotic partner. He's the son of Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan. There are times when he looks eerily like his father, and at other angles I can see Meg's shining face in Jack's.
Sophie Thatcher is so cute as the titular companion it's almost otherworldly. Her role is the mechanical heart of the picture and she's more than up to the task.
The support characters all do their parts with competence. The whole thing just feels as insubstantial as Jack and Sophie's relationship. Companion goes down smoothly, but like an extra large serving of stewed prunes it went straight through me, leaving a hollowed-out feeling.
There's ample violence in Companion, but as with The Monkey it's silly and about as effective as a Road Runner cartoon.
Go ahead and watch Companion and you'll likely be entertained. I don't think many will wish it to be a permanent addition to their collection, so stream it. Or, as I did, borrow a DVD from a library. Some are still loaning out physical media.
It could be a lot better, but for God's sake Companion could have been infinitely worse. Part of me is still dead from watching the Stepford Wives remake in a theater twenty years ago.
Written by Mark Sieber
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