IF (2024) Review: If Only the Movie is Magical…

After the one-two punch of A Quiet Place duology, John Krasinski made an unlikely 180-degree turn from directing horror to… a family-friendly fantasy comedy. It may sound like an out-of-character move. But it’s easy to forget that Krasinski got his start making comedies in the little-seen Brief Interviews with Hideous Men and The Hollars.

The first time I saw the IF trailer, I couldn’t help but feel like a typical, middle-of-the-road children’s fantasy about imaginary friends with the same old Ryan Reynolds’ schtick added in. The movie’s curiously lack of promotion, despite being positioned in the prime slot of summer movie season, suggested something was not right.

Hoping that IF would surprise me instead, the movie turned out to be a hollow experience. Krasinski, who also wrote the screenplay, actually gets off to a breezy start with the crayon-style animation of the Paramount logo before we are treated to a bittersweet montage of young Bea (Audrey Hoffman) and her parents (John Krasinski, Catharine Daddario) spending quality time together.

After losing her mother at a young age, 12-year-old Bea (now played by Cailey Fleming) returns home to New York to live with her grandmother (Fiona Shaw) while her dad has been staying in the hospital in preparation for an operation. Then, one night she sees not one but two imaginary friends — first, an anthropomorphic butterfly named Blossom (voiced by Phoebe Waller-Bridge) and then, the giant, purple furry creature instantly reminds me of McDonald’s Grimace called Blue (Steve Carell). These two happen to live upstairs in the same apartment building with Cal (Ryan Reynolds), who somehow possesses the same ability as Bea does.

And there are more of them after Cal brings her to a rundown fun fair and inside, she meets other imaginary friends (they are referred to as “IFs”) including Unicorn (Emily Blunt), Sunny the flower (Matt Damon), superhero Guardian Dog (Sam Rockwell), wooden figure Art Teacher (Richard Jenkins), Bubble (Awkwafina), Spaceman (George Clooney), Ice (Bradley Cooper) and cute kitten-in-a-red octopus costume, Octopuss (Blake Lively).

There are a few more others voiced by who’s who of familiar Hollywood stars. The place turns out to be a retirement home under the supervision of an old teddy bear Lewis (Louis Gossett Jr., his first posthumous role after his death at the age of 87 in March) for these abandoned and long-forgotten IFs, who all used to be parts of every respective kid’s companionship. These kids have since grown into adulthood and the IFs are no longer needed.

The whole scene leads to the movie’s most magical moment from moving floor tiles to a Tina Turner musical number, and a part where Cal trips and climbs out of an oil painting. If only there were more of these imaginative scenes would do the movie a huge favour. But the rest of the movie plods along with heavy-handed sentimentality that Krasinski’s attempt to evoke genuine emotion out of his storytelling and direction feels rather manufactured than rightfully earned. Michael Giacchino’s score doesn’t help much either with his music sounding progressively manipulative ad nauseam.

The biggest issue in IF lies in its oddly disconnected story that particularly fails to establish the emotional side from Bea’s point of view. While Cailey Fleming does her best to play the charming but conflicted Bea, there’s only so much she can do here. We learn that she lost her mother and now, her dad is sick but both of their respective cause of death and illness are strangely undisclosed for an unknown reason. Maybe she bottled up all her emotion but whatever it was, her character arc is disappointingly superficial. After possessing the ability to see the IFs and getting to know Cal, they agree to join forces to help these deserted imaginary friends reconnect with their owners. Rediscovering your inner child moments is a nice touch but at the expense of Bea’s story and by the time a late-in-the-game reveal takes place, it barely matters anymore.

The CGI is mostly seamless and some of the cast, namely Fiona Shaw’s lovely supporting turn as Bea’s grandmother and Steve Carell does a decent job voicing the nervous and clumsy Blue. Contrary to what you have seen in the trailer, Ryan Reynolds’ usual comedy routine is downplayed here in this movie while he shares a wonderful chemistry with Cailey Fleming.