They say you’re merrier with a terrier, but a Great Dane will keep you sane. Iris (Naomi Watts) discovers just how much a dog is a human’s best friend in the aptly titled The Friend as she assumes the care of her late pal’s pooch. This endearingly affectionate study of grief, closure, and companionship features a never better Naomi Watts in the lead. But the true star of the film is Bing the dog. He’s arguably the breakout performer of the year as Apollo, the Dane whom Iris begrudgingly adopts following the death of her friend and mentor Walter (Bill Murray). Iris resists Apollo’s sad puppy dog eyes when she brings him to his new home, but he wins her—and, inevitably, the audience—over rather quickly. Even cat people are bound to love The Friend.

The sudden loss of Walter leaves Iris reeling. His suicide seemingly comes out of nowhere, especially as their last meeting involves an upbeat walk down memory lane as he tells her (again) about finding Apollo. Walter talks as if the dog saved his life. If only temporarily.

Now, in perhaps Walter’s last poetic gesture, Iris’s author friend leaves her a surprise. His widow (Noma Dumezweni) says that he wanted to entrust Apollo to Iris’s care. Being responsible for a best friend’s best friend is no small ask. So, Iris brings Apollo home out of respect for Walter’s memory, even though her rent controlled New York apartment has a strict policy against dogs.

Sneaking around with Apollo isn’t easy, either, since he probably weighs more than Iris does. (And, parental advisory: he is responsible for some of the most explicit nudity of 2025!) Watts and Bing make great screen partners as Iris and Apollo clash. She tries to set the rules, but he mischievously and knowingly disobeys. Throwing “What’re you gonna do about that?” looks in Iris’s direction, the dog sets up a push-pull comedy bit to which Watts gamely responds. The Friend proves that the adage against starring with kids and dogs doesn’t apply—at least for pooches. (The jury’s still out on kids.) They’re one of the year’s best screen couples.

Apollo’s disobedience unsettles Iris though: Walter always praised him as a good boy. He refuses to eat. He sleeps on her bed. And he causes a ruckus whenever she leaves him alone. The threat of an eviction notice predictably becomes serious.

And yet the more time Iris spends with Apollo, the more she recognizes the sadness in his eyes. This dog, too, grieves a lost friend.

Watts, not to be upstaged by the pooch perfection of her co-star, gives a deeply heartfelt turn. Iris, a workaholic, has few people in her life following Walter’s departure. Walter’s daughter Val (Sarah Pidgeon) offers the closest thing to a friend, although they’re more a surrogate mother-daughter relationship. (Their closeness yields some surprising character dynamics in The Friend.) Watts therefore essentially offers a one-woman show throughout much of The Friend. Iris wrestles with the various stages of grief, unable to share or even articulate the aching hollowness that pains her in Walter’s absence. And yet when Apollo later lets out a guttural howl, or mashes Walter’s old t-shirt in his jowls, Iris comes to understand that someone else shares her pain. If acting largely involves reacting, then Watts and Bing should jointly be commended for cross-species synergy.

Writer/directors Scott McGehee and David Siegel (Montana Story) offer a moving adaptation of the bestselling book by Sigrid Nunez. The Friend carries Nunez’s highly literary introspectiveness. It echoes the recent bigscreen adaptation of her work, The Room Next Door, with long speeches and talky exchanges. The Friend doesn’t quite have the same habit for monologuing, though, and Apollo’s energetic nature keeps it a livelier affair, although the directors somewhat struggle with issues of pacing. Even a dog as endearing as Bing has the story overstaying its welcome.

They mine something beautiful in Nunez’s work, however, about the unexpected power of friendship between humans and non-human animals. For anyone with a four-legged friend, Bing’s watery eyes and expressive performance are sure to prove a touching reminder of the companionship that a pet provides. And yet without anthropomorphizing the dog, The Friend makes a compassionate plea for the rights of these animals by illustrating how they have their own emotional intelligence. They need us almost as much as we need them.

The mutual companionship between Iris and Apollo invites a genuinely touching and cathartic journey. Your eyes will be raining cats and dogs by the end of The Friend—but mostly dogs.

The Friend opens in theatres April 4.