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IF<\/strong> (2024)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Paramount\/Fantasy-Comedy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 104 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG (thematic elements, mild language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: John Krasinski\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: John Krasinski\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Michael Giacchino\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Janusz Kaminski\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: May 17, 2024 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Cailey Fleming, Ryan Reynolds, John Krasinski, Fiona Shaw, Alan Kim, Liza Colon-Zayas, Bobby Moynihan, Catharine Daddario, Audrey Hoffman.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Voice Cast: Steve Carell, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Louis Gossett Jr., Emily Blunt, Awkwafina, George Clooney, Bradley Cooper, Matt Damon, Bill Hader, Richard Jenkins, Keegan-Michael Key, Blake Lively, Sebastian Maniscalco, Christopher Meloni, Matthew Rhys, Sam Rockwell, Maya Rudolph, Amy Schumer, Allyson Seeger, Jon Stewart, Brad Pitt.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Rating<\/strong>: ***<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0IF<\/strong> has got to be one of the strangest mainstream movies I\u2019ve ever seen.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0Perhaps I ought to qualify this remark. It\u2019s not strange in the same sense as a David Lynch film like Lost Highway. It\u2019s surreal in a completely different way. It takes place in New York, but it\u2019s not the New York we all know and fear. It\u2019s a New York where a 12YO girl can walk to a store alone at night without being mugged or molested. I\u2019m guessing that IF<\/strong> takes place in some alternate universe as it\u2019s the most logical explanation of the illogical things that happen in the new fantasy-comedy from writer-director John Krasinski (A Quiet Place 1 & 2).<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0The aforementioned preteen Bea (Fleming, Star Wars: The Force Awakens) goes to stay with her grandmother Margaret (Shaw, best known as Harry Potter\u2019s mean Aunt Petunia) while her father (Krasinski) is the hospital. It\u2019s only been a few years since her mother died of cancer and now she\u2019s facing the possible loss of her dad. As such, she\u2019s already put away childish things. She no longer sees herself as a kid, something she\u2019s quite vocal about.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0During her unauthorized nocturnal excursion, she spots a strange creature and follows it to the apartment of her weird upstairs neighbor Cal (Reynolds, Deadpool). She soon learns she shares something in common with Cal; they both possess the ability to see and communicate with IFs (Imaginary Friends). Cal\u2019s job is to rehome IFs after their original owners have outgrown them. Bea reluctantly agrees to help him. It\u2019s not as easy as it sounds because the IF and the child have to be compatible. Predictably, Bea\u2019s new job puts her on the road to rediscovering her inner child.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0The IFs are a colorful and interesting bunch. The one the plot concerns itself with most is a big, goofy, purple monster named Blue (Carrell, Gru from the Despicable Me movies). There\u2019s also Blossom (Bridge, Fleabag), a humanoid butterfly who loves to serve tea, and my favorite, an elderly teddy bear named Lewis. He\u2019s voiced by the recently deceased Louis Gossett Jr. (An Officer and a Gentleman) in one of his final roles. He runs a retirement home for IFs located under Coney Island. There\u2019s a great sequence where he encourages Bea to redesign the place using her imagination. It leads to an energetic dance number set to Tina Turner\u2019s \u201cBetter Be Good to Me\u201d.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0I know IF<\/strong> is a fantasy and by nature, it\u2019s not supposed to be realistic. However, there are a few things I just can\u2019t get my mind around. At the top of the list is the grandmother. She\u2019s supposed to be watching the kid, but it would appear she\u2019s sleeping on the job or something. What responsible adult would let a child in her care run around the city with a grown man, a stranger no less? SPOILER ALERT!<\/strong> Now if you\u2019ve seen the movie, then you know this is answered by the surprise twist that really isn\u2019t all that surprising if you\u2019ve been paying attention. Still, it\u2019s an issue that will bother many a parent watching IF <\/strong>with their own kids.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0That leads to my next question; who exactly is IF<\/strong> for? It\u2019s being marketed as a family movie and while there\u2019s nothing inappropriate in it per se, I\u2019m wondering if little kids will understand it. I\u2019m pretty sure they\u2019ll get the part about finding new kids for forgotten IFs, but what about when the plot switches things up? When rehoming IFs doesn\u2019t work out, Cal and Bea decide to try and reconnect the IFs with their former owners. That requires making the now-adults remember their childhood IFs. Will the little ones get it? It\u2019s hard to say.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0The good thing is IF<\/strong> is colorful and lively. Also, the various IFs are pretty cool. Krasinski gets that part right. It\u2019s an effective mix of decent CGI and solid voice talents like Emily Blunt (as a unicorn), George Clooney (as a spaceman), Christopher Meloni (as a detective) and Amy Schumer (as a red gummy bear). I had some fun trying to put the voices to the characters.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0Fleming is an engaging young actress. Her character is surprisingly (and relatively) complex for a silly early summer movie. Bea is avoiding grief by assuming the role of a grown up.\u00a0 It\u2019s only a matter of time before she\u2019ll be forced to deal with it. Fleming does a good job with the role. Ryan Reynolds, on the other hand, plays Ryan Reynolds (sans f-words, of course). He\u2019s the same in every movie. Here, it serves him well.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0Overall, I enjoyed IF<\/strong>. Yes, it\u2019s uneven and isn\u2019t sure of its audience. However, it is surprisingly moving at the end. I was surprised to find myself so emotionally invested in such a silly movie. I doubt it will attain blockbuster status, but it\u2019s not a terrible choice for a family outing to the movies. It beats watching Kung Fu Panda 4 again.<\/p>\r\n IF (2024)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Paramount\/Fantasy-Comedy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 104 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG (thematic elements, mild language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: John Krasinski\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: John Krasinski\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Michael Giacchino\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Janusz Kaminski\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: May 17, 2024 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Cailey Fleming, Ryan Reynolds, John Krasinski, Fiona Shaw, Alan Kim, Liza Colon-Zayas, Bobby Moynihan, Catharine Daddario, Audrey Hoffman.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Voice Cast: Steve Carell, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":791,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-comedies"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/IF-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=173"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":794,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173\/revisions\/794"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/IF-POSTER.jpg?resize=620%2C775&ssl=1\")
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