There have been many films that have come out over the years that feature a dog in a big. The latest is based on the 2018 novel by Ingred Nunez called The Friend. It stars Naomi Watts in the lead role opposite a great Dane called Apollo. It’s not the first great Dane to be featured in movies and so forth. Both Scooby-Doo Doo and Marmaduke were danes as well.

Ingrid (Naomi Watts) is one of three exes of Walter (Bill Murray). After he passed away, he left her his great Dane named Apollo. At first, she doesn’t want him because she’s not supposed to have animals in her rent controlled building, but after a few weeks, she finds she likes him and he likewise likes her. He sleeps in her bed, and she plays music for him, but mostly, he likes poetry being read to him aloud. The support of the dog gets in the way of her job, but she can’t help him the way she wants.

Watts’ character has a supporting cast that helps her get through her grief over her friendship with Murray’s character. She feels that she owes the dog as much as she can because of Val (Sarah Pidgeon) Murray’s character’s daughter, Elaine (Carla Cugino) Tuesday (Constance Wu), a couple of the  ex-husband, Marjorie (Ann Dowd) , a friend and neighbor. She talks to all of them in some capacity.They all provide support to her like the dog does. 

I’ve had a few dogs in my lifetime, mostly as a kid with my brothers and sister, but one dog I did have on my own that I had to take care of was an Australian sheep dog named buddy. She was a great dog. Yes, I said she was even though the dog was a she was still my buddy. I was struggling in my life, and she was a friend to me, similar to the Watts character in this film. Dogs don’t, or do they know what we’re going through in our lives, but they are there for us anyway. That’s why their called man’s, or in this case, woman’s best friend.

There is something about looking into the eyes of a dog and thinking to yourself what they are thinking about. My friend, Vinnie, has a dog like that. Where his dog’s eyes are so expressive. The dog Apollo in the movie has very expressive eyes. He looks out to see what’s going on and wonders what his owner is doing. Staring into the soul of a dog is a good thing even though more often than not, we don’t know what they are thinking and likewise.

The director’s Scott McGehee and David Siegel use New York City as a character in the film. When Watts’ character inherits the dog, she has to take him out and travel around to meet her friends, family, and work acquaintances. The cameras show many New York landmarks, and there are various scenes of characters walking down streets and riding in boats and trains that show the beauty and not the ugly side of New York City.  Even though I’m not a fan of this city, I can see when filmmakers are trying to show this in a film.

Dog movies can be fun like Benji or Turner and Hooch and so forth, but this one is more of a character studio. It deals with grieving and the repercussions of death.This movie deals with these kinds of aspects in a more clichéd way. Flashbacks and dream sequences are used to explain what the main character is thinking sometimes. I would have liked to see her come up with solutions to her problems without these contrived elements. The film makes it like she can’t handle the loss on her own without these sequences. 

The Friend will make any dog lover emotional. It has a tie that will keep people interested while watching it. Watts is a great actress, but she’s in a clichéd story based on this book. I would have liked to see the film deal with grief better even though the emotional support animal thing is what people are doing these days. Having had a friend in dog form who was there for me in a tough time made this story relatable to me, even though it’s a clichéd film with a few contrivance in the plot. Dog lovers will inevitably like it, I’m sure.

3 ½ stars

Dan Skip Allen