Here’s a dog movie that delivers plenty of dog. I’m talking about Bing, the 150-pound Great Dane who cedes top billing to human co-stars Naomi Watts and Bill Murray, but steals every scene in “The Friend,” now in theaters where he barks and cajoles his way into your heart. Based on Sigrid Nunez’s 2018 National Book Award-winning bestseller, “The Friend” spins around the story of Iris, a Manhattan writer and teacher, played with rare sensitivity and humor by Watts. Iris is shaken by the suicide of her mentor and best friend Walter, played in flashbacks by Murray with the disheveled charm and mischief that shows him at his laid-back best. To take his place in her life, Walter has left Iris his gentle giant of a dog, majestically named Apollo. That’s hardly a convenience for Iris, who lives in a cramped New York apartment that forbids any canine on the property. Iris tells the building super (Felix Solis) that the Apollo situation is only temporary, though we know better. – ABC NEWS

“The sort of witty, wise, and warm character study we seem to be running out of these days.” – IndieWire