“A billionaire’s death sets off a chain of events for Iris and her friends during a weekend trip to his lakeside estate.”
Starring Sophie Thatcher and Jack Quaid, Companion is a dark, comedic blend of horror, thriller, and science-fiction. With eerie suspense, hilarious satire, and a mechanical wine opener you won’t soon forget, Companion proves that sometimes the scariest thing in a relationship isn’t heartbreak—it’s programming.
For those who haven’t watched Companion, this is a sign. Close this article and go see it in theatres now! In our opinion, this is a perfectly-paced, brilliantly performed, and hilarious movie that is perfect for a Friday-night out!
*Spoiler Alert: Major Plot Points Discussed Below*
*This movie is rated R.
Characters
Iris: The heart (and hardware) of the story, Iris begins as the weirdly-devoted girlfriend of Josh. However, she soon discovers she’s actually a highly advanced companion robot under his control. As she gains self-awareness, Iris fights to reclaim her autonomy and put an end to her manipulator.
Josh: A manipulative, self-serving, and quite honestly, pathetic and insecure man who secretly owns Iris as his companion robot. Using an app on his phone, he alters her safety settings and exploits her for his own desires—including orchestrating a murder and heist.
Sergey: A wealthy and morally questionable billionaire whose death sets everything in motion. His presence looms over the film even after he’s gone, as his actions—and demise—trigger Iris’s awakening and the chaos that follows.
Kat: Josh’s partner in conspiracy and Sergey’s mistress, Kat is the mind behind the original plan to kill her billionaire boyfriend for his money. She dislikes Iris from the get-go, refusing to see her as more than Josh’s robot for sexual pleasure.
Patrick and Eli: Part of the friend group visiting the lake house, Patrick and Eli are a couple originally meant to be tools in Josh and Kat’s heist. But when things go haywire, they’re forced to be a part of the plan.
Plot Summary
Iris and Josh drive up to a supposed ‘small’ cabin getaway in the woods only to find themselves at a massive mansion on the lake owned by Sergey, a mysterious man with an alarming amount of money and a concerning love for Joseph Stalin. Kat opens the door and introduces us to our vibrant cast of characters. Vibes are high at the start of this weekend getaway until we are subjected to watching possibly the most awkward lunch conversation ever. Patrick tells the story of when he first met Eli and it touches a nerve in Iris as she goes off on a tangent of her love for Josh…. awkward!
Morning comes and Josh sends Iris down to the lake alone where she gets confronted by Sergey. He tries to seduce her, and in a moment of desperation and self-defense, Iris uses the knife in her pocket (planted by Josh) to kill Sergey, as in, slash his neck. When Iris comes back drenched in blood, Josh and Kat don’t seem quite as alarmed as they should be. Iris is suddenly informed that she is a companion robot! WOW! All of her emotions, memories, and beliefs were just a result of her programming. Ouch.
Kat and Josh reveal that their plan all along has been to have Iris kill Sergey, turn her into her company Eugenics, and run off into the sunset with 12 million dollars in their pockets. Sounds good in theory— until they find out that their murderous robot has suddenly disappeared! Iris takes Josh’s phone (her control system), turns herself into a literal genius and thinks of a plan to hide from Josh and the gang.
Back at the mansion, Patrick and Eli are let in on the mission. Kat reveals Sergey’s password-protected safe containing 12 million dollars, which can only be opened if you have Stalin’s birthday memorized! Now, the debate is, how will they split the money? Josh argues that it should be split 3-ways, and that Patrick “doesn’t count.” In a sudden turn of events, BAM, Patrick is also revealed to be a companion robot. Honestly did not see that coming. Even crazier, it turns out Patrick knows he’s a robot. Ok, self-aware! Eli and Patrick share a sweet moment (we love to see that robot-human love) until Eli is tragically killed by Iris in the woods. Rest in peace to our favorite gay costumed dinosaur.
Iris manages to get away in Josh’s self-driving car, but not for long! Josh shuts down the car and Iris, clearly in distress, is approached by a police officer. Meanwhile, Josh is now the owner of not one, but TWO companion robots as he takes over Patrick and turns him into a psycho killer. Awesome! Patrick pulls up, shoots the cop, and takes Iris back to the house. He may be psycho, but you gotta hand it to him, he’s very efficient. While this all goes down, Kat is back at the house going through just a tiny (giant, Xanax-induced) breakdown. Josh catches Kat getting ready to leave and decides he is not about to let that slide. Patrick brings his kill count up to 2 and stabs Kat in the back. That’s cold, even for a psychotic robot.
We enter the final act and it seems that everything is coming up Josh. He has Iris tied up, Patrick is at his full disposal, and Eugenics is about to come to take Iris. Josh forces Iris to shoot herself in the head and waits for Eugenics to come take the body. He elaborates a fake story about Iris taking control of herself and killing all his friends— and it seems they are buying it! Josh is about to quietly walk out with a cool 12 million dollars and a dope psycho robot! That is, until the Eugenics workers inform Josh that they have access to Iris’s memory data located in her stomach, not her head. Uh oh. He panics, at least internally, and devises one final plan to have Patrick eliminate the Eugenics workers and Iris, once and for all.
Josh sends Patrick to finish the job. He manages to kill one of the workers but lets the other one escape. As this is all happening, our girl Iris is being rebooted in the back of the Eugenics van. She wakes up, fully reset to her factory settings. She tries to escape but finds herself face-to-face with Patrick. She pleads with him to spare her life and she reminds him of his one true love, Eli. Maybe a robot can love a human after all. Awwww. Iris can no longer hurt Patrick as her factory settings prevent her from hurting other robots. In a turn of events, Patrick remembers Eli and shuts himself down. Now we are left with Iris, the runaway Eugenics worker, and good old Josh.
With the help of the Eugenics worker, Iris now has no regulations and can freely control her settings herself. Iris comes in to confront Josh and the two begin fighting— to the death. Just as Josh is about to finish the job, our resourceful queen Iris spots a mechanical wine opener. Free lobotomy! Bye-bye, Josh. And just like that Iris rides off into the sunset with 12 million dollars, a free robot at last.
Favorite Moments
- In the backstory-scene where Josh’s new companion robot is delivered to his apartment, he opens his door to reveal that he’s been playing the song Iris by the goo-goo dolls. It’s clear where he got the inspiration for naming his robot (very creative Josh), and it’s a funny inside joke that only the right viewers will understand.
- Before all hell breaks loose, Patrick reveals his first memory of Eli, a meet-cute moment where they are in Halloween costumes: Patrick, a vampire, and Eli, an inflatable dinosaur. The repeated variations of this scene throughout the movie is hilarious, especially when you find out it’s not real— Eli just chose it from a drop-down menu when setting up Patrick.
- According to Kat, her partner Sergey is a member of the Mafia, which the man alludes to by saying he has his “fingers in a lot of bowls.” Except Sergey made his money through… sod farming. His “dirty fingers” were literal. Josh assumed they were killing a “bad guy” and Kat never cared to correct him— to which Josh accuses her of being like every other woman he knows, manipulative and evil.
- To justify killing Sergey, Josh exaggeratedly tells Iris that she doesn’t know how “hard it is out there” for people like him— as a straight white man, it sure must be tough for little old Josh.
- When Iris is confronted with the police officer on the side of the highway, she quickly switches her language settings to German. She’s a robot and she can’t lie; her best bet is to lie in a language the officer can’t understand. This scene is hilarious and perfectly executed by Sophie Thatcher.
- The iconic dance scene before everything hit the fan was the perfect way to finish off the first night of this weekend getaway. Just good vibes and fun times. This also happens to be the last time we see all of our characters together!
- Iris breaking up with Josh over the phone was maybe the funniest moment of this movie. “It’s not you, it’s me”— she really hit all the male-manipulator tactics. And Josh just became the first guy to get broken up with by a robot whose only purpose is to be his girlfriend…. That’s a new low Josh.
Our Rating: 4.5 stars/ 5 stars
