Movie Review: IF

By John Corrado

The title of writer-director John Krasinski’s new movie IF is an acronym that stands for imaginary friend; you know, the friends that children make up in their minds, which tend to get forgotten as they grow up.

The story centres around Bea (Cailey Fleming), a 12-year-old girl who is staying with her grandma (Fiona Shaw) while her father (Krasinski) is in the hospital waiting for heart surgery. She is going through a lot in her young life, but finds a bright spot when she encounters Cal (Ryan Reynolds), the man who lives upstairs in their New York apartment building.

Cal has a gift for being able to see imaginary friends, and is giving IFs that have been separated from their kids refuge in his magical apartment. There’s Blossom (voiced by Phoebe Waller-Bridge), a ballet dancer animated in a rubber hose style, and a big, cuddly purple creature named Blue (voiced by Steve Carell) – even though he is purple – who kind of looks like a cross between Sully from Monsters, Inc. and the McDonald’s mascot Grimace.

Absent someone who believes in them, these IFs have nowhere else to go, and Bea and Cal team up to start a “matchmaking” agency to help pair them with kids. The film’s big set-piece is an imaginative trip through a retirement home for IFs hidden away at Coney Island, where they encounter a number of animated beings, voiced by an all-star cast (including Krasinski’s wife Emily Blunt as a unicorn). The IFs range from endearing, like an aging teddy bear named Lewis voiced by the late Louis Gossett Jr. in one of his final roles, to absurd; i.e., a cup of water with an ice cube in it voiced by Bradley Cooper.

It’s an imaginative world that Krasinski has created, and IF is somewhat bursting at the seams with ideas. The film introduces a lot of different side characters and story strands, which can make it feel a bit overstuffed and occasionally uneven. But Krasinski’s film also feels personal, with a lot of heart packed into it. This is an ambitious family movie that juggles a lot of themes and characters, but mostly balances being very sweet and surprisingly sentimental.

While the trailers suggest a goofy comedy filled with colourful sidekicks, Krasinski is able to shift gears throughout the film to also offer something more sincere. If IF has been advertised as something more akin to Disney’s 2008 Adam Sandler vehicle Bedtime Stories, it turns into sort of a more kid-friendly Big Fish; a fable about the stories we tell and the characters we create to help us move on. The film delivers the funny moments, yes, but also becomes a heartfelt look at memory and imagination.

When Krasinski wants to slow down and deliver a touching, nostalgic scene, IF succeeds quite nicely at tugging at the heartstrings, like a tenderly crafted sequence on the boardwalk at Coney Island. Krasinski is a skilled enough director to pull this all together, building on the directing talents that he showed in the two A Quiet Place films, and working with Spielberg’s cinematographer Janusz Kamiński to craft a magical look.

But IF is largely anchored by the star power of Reynolds and young lead Fleming. Reynolds has a knack for playing these slightly sarcastic characters who are still likeable, and brings his mega-wattage charm factor to his portrayal of Cal. Fleming is tasked with carrying much of the film on her shoulders, and she handles the role’s mix of physical comedy, tap-dancing, and emotional moments with maturity and grace.

One of the defining aspects of IF is that’s it’s a film that doesn’t talk down to kids about grief and loss, while still recognizing the importance of having a sense of playfulness and fun. The emotional quality of the film is brought together through Michael Giacchino’s touching score, which offers the right mix of whimsy and bittersweet accompaniment that the composer has become known for. It’s a wonderful viewing choice for families.

Film Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)