The Hollywood Reporter's David Rooney reviews "Soulm8te," an erotic thriller spun off from the "M3GAN" franchise about a companion android who turns dangerously jealous. The film, directed by Kate Dolan, arrives after Universal shelved its planned January cinema release following the poor box-office performance of "M3GAN 2.0," instead sending it straight to digital platforms. Rooney finds it enjoyable pulp but says it lacks the satirical sharpness needed to make it more than a lurid genre exercise.

The reviewer likens the film to 1980s and 1990s erotic thrillers and "Fatal Attraction," with Lily Sullivan playing Sara, a prototype AI companion built for emotional support and intimacy, opposite David Rysdahl and Claudia Doumit. Despite polished production values from the James Wan-Jason Blum stable and a strong performance from Sullivan, Rooney argues the plot overlaps heavily with last year's "Companion" and lacks the depth of Spike Jonze's "Her." Rated R with a 1 hour 39 minute runtime, "Soulm8te" debuted on digital platforms on Saturday 1 August 2026 after briefly being shopped to other distributors.