By John Corrado

The 2024 Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 5th to 15th, more information on tickets and showtimes can be found right here.

In their latest film The Friend, co-directors David Siegel and Scott McGehee adapt Sigrid Nunez’s novel about a woman coming to terms with the complex relationship she had with an older author through his dog.

Naomi Watts stars in the film as Iris, a struggling author herself who is left to deal with the fallout when her older friend Walter (Bill Murray) takes his own life. He leaves behind a massive Great Dane named Apollo (played by a dog named Bing), with a special request for Iris to care for him. The problem is that she is more of a cat person, and isn’t allowed pets in her small Manhattan apartment, let alone one as large as Apollo.

If The Friend does have some enjoyable moments that come from the bond that forms between Iris and Apollo (Bing the Dog is great), it also feels like there is a more nuanced and interesting character study scratching to get out from under the cheery demeanour. The film’s treatment of suicide also borders on insulting. The problem is that Murray is underused, and his character is completely underwritten.

There is a vague reference early on to Walter having faced misconduct allegations (which is suggested may have led to his suicide). But the film never expands on this and does nothing with it (they could have done something interesting with this, especially considering the attempted cancellation of Murray in real life). Instead, it frames his death entirely from her perspective; his suicide is shown mainly as inconveniencing her, and he is barely even a character.

The filmmakers do something even more criminal, which is to underuse Sad Bill Murray. A womanizing professor who takes his own life after facing allegations could have been a meaty, interesting role for Murray. But the filmmakers aren’t interested in going there, because their film still needs to appear as a feel-good Hallmark Christmas movie. They crave the hook of hot button topics so their films can be marketed to more high-brow audiences, but have no clue how to grapple with them through their anodyne, crowd-pleasing sensibilities.

It feels like Siegel and McGehee were trying to make a feel-good dog movie set at Christmas in New York, and there are moments that will offer emotional resonance for pet lovers. But they also have no clue how to handle the darker storyline (this is a Christmas movie that shows It’s a Wonderful Life, only to have Iris tear down the messages of the Frank Capra classic). One almost wishes they had excised the more challenging material from the script entirely, instead of mishandling it this badly. I really wish this had worked better for me.

Film Rating: ★★ (out of 4)

Public Screenings: Tuesday, September 10th, 9:30 PM at Roy Thomson Hall; Wednesday, September 11th, 5:00 PM at Royal Alexandra Theatre; Saturday, September 14th, 9:00 PM at Scotiabank Theatre; Sunday, September 15th, 3:30 PM at Scotiabank Theatre