Battle of the Sexbots

Drew Hancock's 'Companion' vs. Sierra Greer's 'Annie Bot.'

The concept of lifelike robots designated for romantic and sexual gratification is nothing new. In the movies, it goes back at least as far as Blade Runner in 1982, but I wouldn’t be shocked if there was an earlier example I’m forgetting. Still, given the recent leaps in AI technology, it’s natural that the topic seems to be on people’s minds now more than ever. After all, there are already crude AI sexbots on the market; a future in which such androids are more sophisticated and commonplace may seem sad, but it doesn’t sound particularly far-fetched.

Sierra Greer’s novel Annie Bot, published less than a year ago, exists in such a barely hypothetical future. It tells its story from the point of view of its title character. Annie knows she’s not human, and she knows she’s been programmed to love and obey her abusive, sometimes sadistic owner, Doug… but that doesn’t change the fact that said love feels, to her, genuine. This is Annie’s struggle: she’s badly mistreated, but she still desperately loves the man who controls her. Like so many abused women in the real world, her conflict extends beyond being allowed to leave her abuser; she doesn’t want to leave her abuser. The message of Annie Bot may not be subtle, but it feels authentic and recognizable, and it raises deep philosophical questions about the nature of personhood without ever being heavy-handed.

Companion, the new film from writer/director Drew Hancock, takes a vastly different approach to the same subject. For one thing, it’s darkly comedic; for another thing, it’s not nearly so emotionally complex.

The so-called “fuckbot” at the center of Companion, Iris (Sophie Thatcher, Heretic), initially does not know that she’s an android. She’s been implanted with memories, including a grocery store meet-cute with her “boyfriend,” Josh (Jack Quaid, The Boys). She learns her true origin only after one of Josh’s peers tries to sexually assault her and she violently fights back - something her programming isn’t supposed to allow her to do. Whatever complicated feelings she may have Josh is of little concern to Hancock: as soon as Iris figures out she’s a robot and that her act of self-defense has condemned her to be shut down, she flees, and Companion turns into a cat-and-mouse thriller.

In other words, Iris’ plight is more of a MacGuffin than the source of a metaphysical ponderance, and her arc is complete about a third of the way into the movie. Iris never wrestles with inner conflict about Josh the way Annie wrestles with inner conflict about Doug; Companion does not leave space to interrogate what it means to be human, or what constitutes an authentic emotion.

That’s not to say that Companion is a terrible movie. It’s an entertaining enough Friday night Hollywood popcorn flick. There are some severe plot contrivances that don’t make a ton of sense; there are also some reasonably funny and clever moments. Thatcher and Quaid are both supremely talented, Rupert Friend (The Death of Stalin) is amusing in a brief role as a shady Russian rich dude, and Harvey Guillén (Blue Beetle) is characteristically droll as Eli, a part that amounts to “the gay BFF.” It’s also nice to see Matt McCarthy (The Other Guys) and Marc Menchaca (Ozark) pop up in small roles. Megan Suri (Never Have I Ever), as the Russian rich dude’s mistress, and Jaboukie Young-White (Awkwafina Is Nora From Queens), as a robot technician, make less of an impression.

But the most interesting character is Eli’s boyfriend, Patrick (Lukas Gage, White Lotus), who kinda gets the short shrift.

SPOILERS FOLLOW

See, partway through the movie, it’s revealed that Patrick, too, is an android (which isn’t the most shocking reveal, given that he and Eli also have a meet-cute straight out of a rom-com); Patrick, like Iris, isn’t supposed to know that he’s AI, but it eventually comes to light that he’s figured it out. But unlike Iris, Patrick has no desire to flee his owner - on the contrary, he believes he’s in love with Eli, and is devastated when Eli is killed while attempting to subdue Iris… so much so that he goes into a fugue state. This makes it easy for Josh to reprogram Patrick into thinking Josh is his lover, thereby manipulating Patrick into an Iris-hunting Terminator. Near the end of the movie, Iris can remind Patrick of his love for Eli, and Patrick’s response to kill himself.

Patrick, in other words, has at least some of the complexity that Iris lacks. It would have been interesting to explore his devotion to Eli more; to question whether or not that devotion can be authentic given that Patrick’s memories are false, and to contrast why Patrick remains loyal to Eli while Iris so readily betrays Josh. But Companion doesn’t do any of those things. In much the same manner that Iris being a robot is just a development to help move the plot along, so is Patrick’s relationship with Eli.

It gives me the sense that Hancock is more excited about filming chases and violent confrontations than he is in probing any of the more intellectual issues his narrative raises. All well and good, but it’s why Companion can’t hold a candle to Annie Bot (or, for that matter, Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, which is also, in a way, about a female automaton developing individual agency). Perhaps this is unfair of me, but it’s hard not to note that Hancock is a man and Greer is a woman. Maybe what Iris’ story really needed was a feminine perspective.