Wifelike walks a narrow line around sci-fi sleaze

polygon.com:

Stories about robots or clones make for ideal low-budget sci-fi, because they don’t necessarily require elaborate special effects to mount a convincing illusion. Take, for example, Meredith (Elena Kampouris), from the uneven new streaming movie Wifelike. She’s sort of a clone-robot hybrid, an artificial human made by the titular company, which provides “companions” for grieving men (and seemingly only men) who have lost their spouses. These customizable, programmable robots are infused with aspects of a real person, though it’s not immediately clear how much of a woman’s personality can be ported over into an artificial body.

Kampouris plays the “real” Meredith for a few moments throughout the movie; most of the time, though, she’s inhabiting the robo-companion version, with seemingly zero computer enhancements to aid her performance. She only needs oddly rigid posture and body language, augmented by some makeup and overly tidy costuming, to look genuinely uncanny, like an action-figure reproduction of a famous actress.

The look of Meredith, and the other companions shown in Wifelike, is precise. If only the movie made the world around them equally believable. From its movie-opening fake advertisement, the concept of companions is immediately muddled. They’re somehow sold as both fantastically detailed sex dolls and a treatment for crushing grief, purposes that seem at odds with each other. Companions don’t seem sentient enough to inspire the virulent liberation movement seen in the movie.

And in turn, the protestors don’t seem numerous enough to justify a fleet of “agents” like William (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), whose job it is to track down errant sex dolls like a low-rent Blade Runner. As a reward for diligent work, the