Companion

With his feature debut Companion, writer/director Drew Hancock clearly has the director half of his dual credit down. However, he could use a bit more practice on the keyboard before being known for his screenplay skills.

Making his film’s $10 million budget feel like five or six times that amount, the experienced TV helmer brings high-level production value to the pulpy, darkly comedic tale of Iris (a mesmerizing Sophie Thatcher, Heretic) coming to terms with the realization that she’s a humanoid robot.

Precisely how she’s forced to face that reality warrants discovery on the viewer’s part, and Companion overall is a film worth checking out. Just don’t go in thinking it’s the next best, well, anything — lowered expectations courtesy of an inconsistent script that feels like a first draft.

Hancock’s spotty writing results in Iris being the lone well-developed character, with her boyfriend Josh (Jack Quaid), his friends Kat (Megan Suri, Poker Face), Eli (Harvey Guillén, What We Do in the Shadows), and Patrick (Lukas Gage, The White Lotus), and their wealthy Russian host Sergey (Rupert Friend) largely existing to forward the plot.

Nevertheless, plenty of quality jokes arise from the fairly rich scenario, including an interaction with a police officer (Marc Menchaca, Ozark) that’s comedic gold. And on the whole, Companion plays like a funny Ex Machina, complete with comparably thought-provoking questions about AI ethics and what it means to be human, all of which coalesce into a sufficiently entertaining mixture early on.

It’s enough to convince viewers that Thatcher could be one of the next top leading ladies, and that Hancock will be a filmmaker to watch for some time. But similar to other visually gifted writer/directors like David Lowery and Trey Edward Shults who bit off a tad more than they could chew the first go-round, he’s got a long way to go in order to become one of the greats.

Grade: B-minus. Rated R. Now playing at AMC River Hills 10, Carolina Cinemark, and Regal Biltmore Grande.

(Photo: Warner Bros.)