The Friend

"Slight and tender-hearted."

"Deceptively disarming."

"McGehee and Siegel juice this smart, affecting feature with sly nods to big-screen New York romances."

"There is no pretence we are in anything like the real world here."

"The dog is the best part about it."

"The kind of warm, witty, and wise character study we don't get enough of these days."

"A poignantly affecting watch that mostly earns its emotional payoff."

"This movie would never pass the Bechdel Test."

"This is pedigree material."

"Watts’ exceptional performance is the crucial element of this moving if flawed tale."

"Literate, sober, and bathed in Mozart needle drops, it’s a dog movie for book clubs."

"Some of the sentiments ooze."

"Watts finds another rich vein of emotion to dramatise with delicacy, humour and intelligent vulnerability."

"Gently funny, deeply mournful."

"Stretches on a bit too long."

"An exalted Hallmark movie."

"A by-the-numbers crowd-pleaser with a bit more on its mind than your typical canine-centric tearjerker."

"Operates within such a limited emotional range that it drifts into monotonic plainsong."

"A beautiful triumph of adaptation."

"It’s the parts when the film focuses on Iris and Apollo that truly matter."