I know it’s been less than a month since 2025 started, but I’m calling it right now: Companion is already going to be one of my favorite movies this year. As of writing this, I’ve had the pleasure of seeing this one twice already, and I honestly feel like I could see it many more times and still enjoy every minute of it. It’s brilliant, twisted and wickedly funny.

Companion is a savage and clever take down of entitled “nice guy” male toxicity, at a time when we need that crap taken down. However, it’ll be a disservice to your enjoyment of the film if I go into heavy spoilers. So I’m going to try my hardest to give you a review of this one without spoiling the plot or the surprises like the second trailer did. I assure you, the less you know, the better, so avoid the second trailer. And if you want to go in blind, feel free to leave this review for now, and come back when you’ve seen it.

That said, I’ll try my best to give you a very high level summary of what you’re in for. Sophie Thatcher plays Iris, a sweet but shy character, who met the love of her life in Josh (Jack Quaid). They go to a remote lakeside cabin with their friends Eli (Harvey Guillén), Patrick (Lukas Gage), Kat (Megan Suri), and Kat’s wealthy Russian husband Sergey (Rupert Friend), who owns the property. As the holiday progresses, bad things start to happen, that make Iris reconsider whether her fairy tale relationship with Josh is truly everything she thought it was.

That’s all I’m going to give you, because some movies are better left a surprise. For example, Abigail was one of my favorite movies of last year. However, if we went in not knowing at all what the movie was about, or that the titular character was a ballerina vampire, I think that would have significantly elevated audience enjoyment of the movie tenfold. And the same can be said for Companion, so I urge you to please avoid trailers, especially the second one.

That being said, there’s so much to absolutely love about this movie. And it begins with the amazing Sophie Thatcher. Thatcher already became one of my favorite breakout actresses working today after her strong performance in Yellowjackets and Heretic. However, if her showstopping work in Companion doesn’t make her a household name, I will absolutely riot!

She is simply spectacular in this movie, and the character of Iris is absolutely iconic. I instantly fell in love with her, and as the movie progressed, that love only grew stronger. This is a terrific performance, from her wry comedic deliveries and one-liners, to the subtle facial expressions she makes demonstrating the progression of her character and her arc, as more gets revealed about her. She is a fiercely strong and intelligent protagonist, and everything Thatcher commits to, from the languages she had to learn, to the physical challenges of running, falling, crawling, kicking, and being covered in blood, is already the stuff of legend. Now it’d be easy enough to call her “the next major scream queen,” but after her work in The Boogeyman, Heretic, and now especially Companion, I’m just going to say she’s about to become Hollywood’s next biggest actress. And based on this performance alone, and her stunning ability to convey such a beautiful range of emotions, if I hear about any movie with her in a starring role, I’m seeing it.

Thatcher’s performance, however, is only enhanced by her foil, and that’s Quaid. Quaid’s “nice guy” persona thanks to roles like Hughey from The Boys and Superman from My Adventures with Superman have obviously made him one of the most likable celebrities on the planet. However, as Hugh Grant was able to use his “Hugh Grant charms” to a terrifying degree in Heretic, so too does Quaid utilize the best of his “boy next door” charms in an absolutely slimy and sinister way as Josh. It’s so hard not to like Quaid, which makes his job infinitely harder, because I guarantee you, he gives a disgusting performance on par with that of his father’s from The Substance. In a way, however, it’s much worse. He cons you into thinking he’s a good person from the onset, but as the onion peels back deeper and deeper as the movie continues, so too does Quaid reveal more and more about the truth surrounding Josh, and the kind of character he is. It’s such a brilliant move on the filmmakers’ part to have a character play against type by double downing on the type of character he’s known to play, allowing us as an audience to even question the values of the “good guy” archetype to begin with.

The rest of the ensemble delivers terrific and hilarious performances as well. Friend’s outlandishly chauvinistic and over-the-top rich douchebag is hilariously cheesy. Guillén and Gage find a striking balance between adorable, hilarious, and pretty terrifying at the same time. And Suri lives up to her character’s namesake, giving an appropriately catty, Xanax-popping, mean girl performance.

All that said, in addition to Thatcher, the movie’s strongest element is also its screenplay courtesy of debut film director/writer Drew Hancock. This is by far one of the most clever genre screenplays to come in a long, long time, from Hancock’s sharp dialogue to its terrific sense of world-building. However, more than that, every twist and turn that this movie takes sucks you in further and further. And it’s not just thrills and death that make up the core of Companion. No. This is a really incredibly darkly funny movie. The first time I saw it, the amazing twists within the movie were what engrossed me, given how gleefully unhinged everything unfolded. Everything felt so original and fresh. Then I saw it the second time, and was in awe of how much the film actually does tell you upfront what it’s about. You reassess every line of the movie knowing the twist, and you realize how insanely clever and sly it really is. I don’t think I’ve been this impressed by the debut of a horror comedy filmmaker like Hancock in quite some time.

However, between the twists and the jokes of the movie lies something that I feel is so very needed today, which is its overall theme. Companion is as much a frank and open satire about male toxicity and patriarchal domination as recent movies like The Substance and Barbie. Within the characters of Iris and Josh exists a pointed look at how toxic males view gender roles; essentially what they feel the role of a woman should be within society and in a relationship. And Companion savagely destroys these antiquated and misogynistic expectations, showing how male entitlement can really turn a man with a morally high opinion of himself into a true monster.

We’re living in a time where entitled men are practically a dime a dozen, whether it’s across the online cinematic or communities of sexist anti-woke cowards living anonymously on Twitter, to the very government officials that spent the past nine years encouraging this sort of behavior. How else could cheating convicted rapists be elected president? Thankfully, Companion is brave enough to speak up on how destructive and detestable this sort of behavior is, and firmly gives us an iconic female protagonist to root for in her battle against domineering and entitled male toxicity. It does this with great characters, terrific performances, and witty dialogue.

There’s really not much I can say to criticize Companion, honestly. Perhaps it’s not the most subtle film in terms of exploring male toxicity (it’s definitely not trying to be). However, it runs at a very brisk pace, and keeps us fully invested in the goals of its well-written characters from the very beginning to the end. It stands for me as one of the biggest genre surprises to come out in a long time, anchored by an incredible script with clever, sharp dialogue, strong themes, and terrific characters, played to perfection and beyond by Thatcher and the outstanding ensemble. Thatcher gives a star-making performance, breathing life into a soon-to-be iconic character, in a film with smart thrills and twists, big laughs, and equally huge brains!

I promise you, you won’t want to sleep on Companion!

Overall Score: A

Companion opens in theaters and IMAX everywhere January 31st.