Actor, writer and director John Krasinski (Jim from "The Office") is a likeable actor. He's also creative and confidant in his work, especially when it comes to his movies. That's particularly true with his popular movie series, "A Quiet Place."
Krasinski definitely works well off the question so many storytellers ask themselves before pounding out a story. "What if?"
So, I was interested in seeing his recent fantasy movie, "If." I decided to wait until I could stream it. I wasn't excited enough to pay the ticket price.
The story centers on a young girl named Bea (Cailey Fleming) who moves into her grandmother's apartment, played by Fiona Shaw.
Her father, played by John Krasinski, is in the hospital waiting to undergo heart surgery. He happens to be in the same hospital where her mother died previously. Having to revisit the hospital where her mom died is a huge weight on Bea's shoulders as the worries about possibly losing her father in the same hospital.
Bea starts seeing unusual characters around her grandmother's apartment building. They turn out to be the imaginary friends of other people.
She follows one of these characters back to an apartment tenant, Hal's (Ryan Reynolds) pad.
He runs some sort of one-man agency from his apartment to reunite imaginary friends with the respective people who imagined them up.
Hal can also see these imaginary friends, or I.F's for short. And a couple of them crash at his place.
After Bea and Hal become acquainted, Bea wants to help him reunite kids and adults with their forgotten I.Fs. He's reluctant at first, but she's determined to volunteer. And the story goes from there.
To begin with, Fleming's performance is underwhelming. She doesn't emote much - just a little here and there. Otherwise, I started losing interest in what her character was doing and why she was doing it. I just couldn't grow invested in Bea and her drive to help people reunite with their imaginary pals.
She's pretty dull, even when she's submerged in her imaginary world.
And Ryan Reynolds goes through the motions with some grins and a lot more laziness.
The movie has its charming and attention-grabbing moments. Outside of those, it tries too hard to be cute, sweet and heartwarming. It distracts from the plot.
To the movie's credit, the effort to be an engaging film is clearly visible. It's something different for Krasinski, and I certainly wouldn't suggest he stay away from making family-friendly movies. Regardless of "If" being mostly a miss, he's on the right track.
It's a creative take on the imaginary friend story, which is nothing new. I appreciate "If" being a family-oriented film that comes across as selfless.
The vast array of different imaginary characters, and how they reflect the personalities of their
respective imaginative humans are what carry the movie. That, and the imagery and atmosphere. Still, it falls short in a lot of places where it needs to be strong. I was a bit lost on what I was supposed to take away from "If." Is diving into fantasy best way to deal with the hardships and losses of life? I don't know what the message was.
The imaginary friend motif goes as far back as Jimmy Stewart playing Elwood P. Dowd in "Harvey" (1950). In fact, "If" gives "Harvey" a nod.
But the imaginary friend trope is an old one. There's a lot that can be done with this concept. The 2019 movie "JoJo Rabbit" is a perfect example of a truly original and hilarious take on the imaginary friend movie. I previously talked about the 1984 movie "Cloak & Dagger" with Henry Thomas and Dabney Coleman which is about a boy and his imaginary hero buddy. And, for some reason, when it comes to this sub-genre, the 1991 oddball comedy "Drop Dead Fred" comes to mind.
"If" didn't really impress me much. The premise of assigning imaginary friends to children who need one while reuniting adults with that part of their childhood has the feels of a wholesome attempt to create something original, intended to stand out among other movies with similar storylines.
It tries to be original, and maybe it is in some respects. Otherwise, it's more of the same old stuff, but with fancy cartoon characters. It needs less heart tugging and overly sweet sentimentality, and more substance. A swing and a miss for Krasinski.
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