My Girl 2025

Companion opens with Iris (Sophie Thatcher) reminiscing on her meet cute with Jack Quaid's Josh before accompanying him to a secluded house for a weekend of partying with his friends. Everything is normal on the surface but there are hints that something else is going on as Iris appears insanely dedicated to her boyfriend's happiness and at least one of his friends are a little off with her. Sure enough, a reveal around a third of the way in switches things up and the film becomes a bungled heist movie leading to a chase through the woods with freedom and lives on the line.

If you have seen the final trailer for Companion you already know what the reveal is. I won't spoil it here for those who want to go in blind but it is fair to say this is, partially at least, a sci fi film. You may well spot the twist (especially with the Stepford Wives nod kicking things off) but something so morally abhorrent and potentially dangerous being completely commonplace and having so little oversight takes a minute to wrap your head around. Or maybe, given the current climate, you won't find it far fetched at all. Either way, the point is to set up a modern controlling partner angle. It's as close to a "fun" take as such a thing can be, although it does become increasingly sinister as time goes on, and it eschews the current trend of examining toxic masculinity and patriarchy in favour of focusing on the perils of having a boyfriend who is just a total loser douche. In that regard Quaid is perfect casting, channeling a far less wholesome version of his hapless The Boys character Hughie. There are also entertaining supporting performance but Thatcher is the focus and she is great, her wide eyed innocence giving way to shock, fear band eventually anger as the story progresses.

The film's other big strength is that it is funny. Amongst the increasingly dark goings on the film leans into the farce of the situation and the Gen Z, "did you just SHAME me" humour that can be so teeth clenchingly grating actually works here. This is partly down to its restrained use but mostly because the character relationships actually feel real, allowing the conversations to play as natural. This helps to gloss over the parts of the script that aren't as polished even if some of the dialogue does still feel a little on the nose and forced.

Companion is a film best viewed with as little prior knowledge as possible. You need to be prepared to be forgiving with your sense of logic but, provided you can go with the flow, you can settle down to watch safe in the knowledge you are in for an entertaining, and ultimately satisfying, ninety minutes and change.

7 Ivy League graduates out of 10 intellects.

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