Film Talk: Naomi Watts and pooch pal enjoy a dog's life in The Friend

​I genuinely consider my emotional birthday to be the first time I saw Homeward Bound, and if you don’t get a lump in your throat from any standalone minute of Marley and Me, you simply don’t have a soul.

However, pooch pics aren’t always designed just to get our tears flowing. They can be great exercise for our laughing gear (exhibit A – Dog Soldiers), treat us to a fantastic bit of buddy action (Turner and Hooch) and teach us a lot about how to wear a suit (Reservoir Dogs).

This week, a new film is making a play for the canine flick crown. Based on the 2018 novel by Sigrid Nunez, The Friend puts Naomi Watts front and centre with pooch pal Bing to bring us a bit of doggy drama comedy.

Written and directed by Scott McGehee and David Siegel, this one features an all-star cast including Carla Gugino and Bill Murray, and is sure to have dog lovers packing multiplexes across the land this weekend.

They say a picture is worth a thousands words, but numbers rule the world. If that’s true, Ben Affleck’s Christian Wolff must surely be its king.

The follow-up to one of 2016s biggest action smashes, The Accountant 2 puts our boy Ben back in the ring with Jon Bernthal as brothers Chris and Brax, taking on the bad guys with a combination of brilliant brains and brawn. Directed by Gavin O'Connor and written by Bill Dubuque, this one once again sees Affleck and Bernthal backed up by J K Simmons and this week is punching for the vote of the hardened action thriller fans. No tears here – move aside, Marley.

However, if animation is more your persuasion, you may be looking to take a gander at Goldbeak.

Directed by Dong Long and Nigel W Tierney, this cheeky Chinese coming-of-age tale promises family fun by the bucket load – but does it deliver?

Time to dive in...

​THE FRIEND (UK 15/ROI 15A, 120 mins) ***

Released: April 25 (UK & Ireland)

A dog’s unconditional love is a balm to unresolved grief and simmering rage in a heart-tugging drama comedy written and directed by Scott McGehee and David Siegel.

Adapted from Sigrid Nunez’s novel, The Friend opens with the prosaic inner monologue of New York author and writing teacher Iris (Naomi Watts) shortly after her erudite mentor (Bill Murray) has taken his own life and left devastation and bewilderment in his wake.

Iris recalls some of the writing tips that informed his critically acclaimed work – beware the obvious detail, embrace disorder – and McGehee and Siegel’s script abides by these rules, resolutely avoiding shameless emotional manipulation in a sombre closing 20 minutes to rival the tear-stained resolution of Marley & Me.

Watts’ sympathetic and understated lead performance is enriched by her on-screen double-act with hulking four-legged co-star Bing, who delivers silent, mournful stares with aplomb.

The film’s tug of war between comedy and tragedy is delicately balanced when Iris and the great Dane vie for supremacy inside her apartment (no treats for guessing who comes out as top dog.)

When the narrative ventures outside for walkies, reminiscence and other diversions, including a well-meaning intervention by Iris’s neighbours to prioritise her own wellbeing over a pet, the tonal imbalance becomes pronounced.

Iris (Watts) is devastated at the suicide of her philandering best friend, Walter (Murray). At work, colleagues offer sympathies in passing, which Iris pithily describes as “drive-by condolence”.

Walter leaves behind current wife Barbara (Noma Dumezweni) and her two predecessors, Elaine (Carla Gugino) and Tuesday (Constance Wu), legions of adoring fans and his beloved six-year-old great Dane, Apollo (Bing), which he adopted after stumbling upon the stray during a morning run in the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge.

Unflattering headlines about “that misconduct nonsense”, which abruptly ended Walter’s teaching career, are forgotten to concentrate on an enviable back catalogue including the novels Hagerstown and The Wavering, and the tantalising promise of an unfinished work.

Iris is bequeathed the unpolished final manuscript as well as Apollo. “You were his contingency plan,” Barbara confides.

Unfortunately, Iris lives in her late father’s rent-controlled apartment and the tenancy agreement forbids pet residents.

Building superintendent Hektor (Felix Solis) repeatedly warns Iris that keeping her unruly 150lb inheritance risks eviction, even for a short while until she can find a suitable animal shelter.

As Iris spends more time with Apollo and treats the animal as a confidant for her grief and professional woes, she becomes emotionally attached to the hulking canine.

The Friend is a tenderly observed study of loss and regret, elevated by heartfelt performances and wry dialogue (“He’d have loved seeing his three wives stuck on a tiny boat together!”)

Several supporting characters feel undernourished.

Tellingly, Bing says more with a disdainful stare or full-bellied howl.

THE ACCOUNTANT 2 (UK 15/ROI 15A, 132 mins) ***

Released: April 25 (UK & Ireland)

Fans of gunfights, action drama, tales of fraternity and neurodivergent superpowers will get a kick out of the Ben Affleck-fronted follow-up to 2016’s The Accountant.

We catch up with Affleck’s Christian Wolff, a savant accountant who does the financial dirty work of some of the world’s most dangerous criminals, as he’s contacted by US treasury agent Marybeth Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson, reprising the role from the first film).

She needs help solving a murder committed by an unknown assassin.

What follows is a raucous ride through impressive action sequences, plenty of shoot-outs and super-cool fistfights, with an emotional undercurrent centred around Chris’s relationship with his brother Braxton, played by Jon Bernthal.

The murder victim in question is former financial crimes enforcement network director Raymond King, played by JK Simmons, who is gunned down while working on a case.

Marybeth calls on Chris, who in turn calls on his muscled-up hard man brother, and the trio work through the intricate puzzle that is the murder case with the help of Chris’s nonverbal remote assistant Justine (Allison Robertson) and her legion of young, autistic hackers-in-training.

What sets The Accountant films apart from the myriad others in the genre is Chris’s neurodivergence, and that of his associates, which is largely portrayed with good humour and a sentiment of inclusion, not least because the film cast many autistic actors.

Affleck’s opening scene as Chris in The Accountant 2 sees him game a speed-dating algorithm by making his profile mathematically perfect, only to fumble the human interaction in person.

This is an entertaining way to reintroduce the character while highlighting his isolation: a key plot point, as the film goes on to explore Chris’s reunion with his estranged brother, the contract killer Braxton.

The fraternal subplot adds a depth of emotion to the story, and Bernthal subverts his character’s tough-guy stereotype with vulnerability, playfulness and a great sense of humour.

Affleck’s performance as Chris provides the yin to Braxton’s yang: he’s frank and serious, while Brax is fiery and funny, but as the story develops, the brothers learn to love each other in a surprisingly sentimental turn.

The plot, timely as it is with themes of human trafficking and cruelty to undocumented immigrants, is complicated – almost convoluted – but it’s easy enough to have fun with the cheesy action scenes and high-octane drama peppered throughout.

The action is entertaining, for sure, but the real lifeblood of The Accountant 2 is the buddy comedy vibe of Chris and Brax’s sibling bickering as they try their best to connect through their unconventional work. Gavin O’Connor’s film is nothing ground-breaking but is nonetheless a fun night out at the cinema.

GOLDBEAK (UK PG/ROI PG, 94 mins) ***

Released: April 25 (UK & Ireland)

Birds of a feather fret together in a likeable Chinese computer-animated coming-of-age story directed by Dong Long and Nigel W Tierney, which has been dubbed into easily digestible English for family flocks seeking high-flying adventure in the aftermath of Easter.

Familiar themes of acceptance, self-expression and community spirit roost in a gently paced script that affirms valuable life lessons passed down from father to son.

“There’s power and freedom to the gift of soaring in the sky and a responsibility to use that power wisely!” opines Goldbeak as his confidence soars, echoing the sentiments of a proverb about great power and responsibility popularised by different iterations of Spider-Man.

Tragic loss captured in the opening frames succinctly establishes sympathy for the orphaned eagle, labelled a freak by neighbours who literally and figuratively urge him not to spread his wings. A conventional journey of self-discovery encourages heartfelt self-reflection (and a few digitally-rendered tears) with a wholesome acknowledgement that hiding your talents from the world is a crying shame. Visuals are bright, colourful and sufficiently detailed to survive close scrutiny on a big screen but can’t claim to glide in the slipstream of animation powerhouses like Pixar and DreamWorks.