THE TRAVEL COMPANION (Tribeca 2025) – Review by Sherin Nicole
The Travel Companion is the story of a man who pushes back against change so vehemently he knocks himself over, hopefully, to fall into a revelation. It’s also hilarious to watch unfold because that man, Simon (Tristan Turner), reacts to his best friend’s new girlfriend with such over-the-top shenanigans that you can’t help but giggle while you cringe. The film was inspired by the filmmakers, Travis Wood and Alex Mallis’ experiences navigating friendships and relationships during rapidly changing lives, making the film both relatable and grounded in honest emotional chaos.
In this anatomy of a meltdown, Simon is an indie documentarian with one thing going for him: his best friend Bruce (Anthony Oberbeck) works for an airline and has given Simon the official status of “travel companion”—free flights all year long, baby. Simon uses this perk to pretend to pursue his filmmaking dreams, although he’s doing more sightseeing and flexing than shooting. When Bruce meets Beatrice (Naomi Asa), a filmmaker on the rise, Simon spirals, fearing he’ll be separated from his precious travel privileges—and the only thing that validates him. What follows is a “he’s not going to do that…yep he’s totally going to do that” look at the insecurities that arise when personal and professional lives collide with a liberal coating of jealousy and inferiority. Directors Wood and Alex Mallis deliver character-study comedy that captures the bittersweet absurdities of creative ambition and the growing pains of change.
In the opening moments, The Travel Companion jumps into a film festival Q&A and we see Simon is constantly being pushed aside in life. You feel for him in those moments, and when he slips into irrationality, you kind of get it. This is why, when the boy-meets-girl meet-cute scenario happens between Bruce and Beatrice, we already know things are going to go badly for the bestie and his obsession with free flights. As Simon grapples with the changes in his life, he finds himself caught between the clinging to the past and the inevitability of the future. The arrival of Beatrice not only challenges his dynamic with Bruce but also forces him to confront his insecurities and fears about being left behind as a friend and as a filmmaker.
As the story unfolds, Simon’s relationship with Beatrice becomes analogous to “man-child gets a step-mommy.” His increasingly invasive attempts to hold onto Bruce, are a catalyst for the potential demise of their bond. Simon is willing to push the limits of friendship beyond reason to keep perks that cannot last if the friendship doesn’t. Ironically, when he’s not trying or pushing so hard, he’s the most dialed into his relationships. There’s added irony because I’m not sure the romance between Bruce and Beatrice would last if Simon didn’t continuously strengthen it by testing its limits. It’s a helluva thing.
With a quietly hilarious script full of truly embarrassing behavior, The Travel Companion is a peek into a filmmaker’s life and how true inspiration often comes from boundaries. With a co-writing assist from Weston Auburn and performances immersed in realness, it’s like we’re watching the events firsthand—like the fascination of a one-man trainwreck. I have to give the filmmakers, Wood and Mallis, their applause. We’ll be on the lookout for what movie mischief they get into next.
