IF

John Krasinski, actor turned acclaimed director of the Oscar-nominated Quiet Place movies, takes a drastic turn in tone with IF. IF is a fantastical family movie that harkens back to the likes of Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium and Bedtime Stories years ago. Films like these have mostly fallen by the wayside in recent years in favor of sequels and franchise films. So in many ways, it is refreshing to see something like IF release in theaters. If only the film itself was innovative in any way.

The film features Hollywood’s biggest stars in front of and behind the scenes. We have A-lister friends of Krasinski starring as “IFs”, or imaginary friends, that our leads Bea (Cailey Fleming) and Calvin (Ryan Reynolds) work with. Some of these include Steve Carell, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Awkwarina, Emily Blunt, George Clooney, Bradley Cooper, Sam Rockwell, Maya Rudolph, Amy Schumer, and the late Louis Gossett Jr. in his final film performance. And hey, they’re not A-listers for nothing! Most of the cast fully commits to whatever Krasinski cooks up. Then behind the screen we have Oscar-winning legends Michael Giacchino as the composer and legendary cinematographer Janusz Kaminski as DP.

All the ingredients for success are there, but IF falls flat on its face throughout due to its baffling lack of focus. Krasinski is a creative voice who clearly has a lot of passion poured into this film, but the screenplay would have been vastly improved if he wasn’t the sole writer. There is nothing to balance out all of his ideas, and as a result we get too many story beats and not enough substance for any of them. For the first half, the plot follows Bea’s quest to find new kids to pair with IFs whose kids have grown up. This was a cute enough premise, but the second half of the story switches gears completely. It shifts to be about the IFs reconnecting with their grown-up kids. As a result, the script is simply all over the place, leaving me exhausted after watching it. 

It doesn’t help that this film is a deeply unfunny comedy. The writing always goes for the most obvious joke, and it’s clear the writers thought the humor was much sharper than it actually was. Every time the gummy bear voiced by Schumer showed up, pure misery arose in me. And while Carrell is actually talented, he does not fit the spirit of his character Blue. This character has many jokes made about how he is anxious yet large, and every single one unfortunately fell flat. 

I know this review has been fairly harsh thus far, but there were absolutely aspects of IF that I quite enjoyed. For one, Fleming is charming and captivating as the lead. She surely has a bright career in front of her. Though his performance doesn’t work for me, I appreciate Reynolds for venturing outside of his typical snarky fourth wall-breaking performance. He instead attempts to be more of a Gene Wilder Willy Wonka-type performance here. And though most of the IFs are very contrived and uninteresting, there were some simple IFs that were quite entertaining. My favorites were the energetic pink alligator amusingly named Ally Gator (Rudolph), the lovable Unicorn (Blunt), and the tender aging bear Lewis (Gossett Jr. in a heartfelt swan song). Gossett Jr. has a sweet tribute to him at the end of the film that I appreciated. 

The highlight of the entire film, however, is a wonderful sequence where Lewis inspires Bea to use her imagination as a superpower that crescendos to an artistic expression of endless imagination. This scene features a touching needle drop of Tina Turner’s “Better Be Good to Me”, a song that bonds Bea and her father (Krasinski). It essentially plays like a music video, and I admire Krasinski’s faith in the audience to enjoy a nearly dialogue-less sequence and appreciate the meaning of it through its visuals. 

While I admittedly did not enjoy IF, it undeniably has a heart and a strong message for kids. There are far worse things out there for them, and at the end of the day, this is a well-meaning and bubbly film with a true vision behind it. I just wish I could have gotten anything out of it. 

4/10