‘IF’- Film Review | John Krasinski’s Latest is Creative, Yet Missing Something

As a longtime fan of John Krasinski, anything he does as an actor turned filmmaker has my total interest. A Quiet Place and its sequel, A Quiet Place Part II, quickly prove his knack for directing. But he’s about to switch genres from horror to family fantasy with his latest outing as a writer-director IF. Seeing live-action family movies in theaters has become too rare nowadays since they’ve mostly been pushed to streaming. But its fascinating premise didn’t sound too wild to hook anyone in. From the trailers alone, it could either be likened to the classic animated TV series Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends or find itself in the obnoxious zone similar to Drop Dead Fred (remember that attempt at comedy?). IF lands somewhere in the middle of a delightful film for kids yet needs retooling to consider it memorable.

What’s the Story: 12-year-old Bea (Cailey Fleming) returns to New York to stay with her grandmother (Fiona Shaw) while her happy-go-lucky dad (Krasinski) is in the hospital for a heart operation. She’s more grown up now and doesn’t seem into childish things, worrying she might lose her father after her mother died years back. Soon, Bea witnesses a strange creature living upstairs in her grandmother’s building. As it turns out, her neighbor Cal (Ryan Reynolds) is in the care of imaginary friends, or IFS. Bea can see them, including a giant furry purple creature named Blue (voiced by Steve Carell) and a butterfly-human-like creature named Blossom (voiced by Phoebe Waller-Bridge), and helps Cal to pair different IFs with new kids since their original child grew up and forgotten them.

Whether you were a kid or remembered as an adult, we’ve all had an imaginary friend growing up. That concept makes us sound crazy since nobody is there, and others look confused. I think I used to have two named Guys because I was an idiot. But that’s how creative we used to be in making someone to talk to or play with if we were lonely. And it seems Krasinski wanted to take the idea with that sense of creativity in his mind after learning he wanted to make this for his daughters.

Cailey Fleming’s performance as the pre-teen Bea carries the film when capturing a charming and intelligent kid dealing with grief while finding out she can use this sudden ability to see IFs for a proper purpose, no matter how strange it can be. She has a tremendous dramatic heft in the latter half I didn’t see coming. And Ryan Reynolds luckily takes a backseat in letting Fleming take center stage. That said, this isn’t a top 10 best, but he gives a decent performance of Cal that didn’t need to rely on his usual quips when showing Bea the ropes of this world.

This also boasts some big names to voice the IFs. Some of them might be a challenge to sit through and figure out who’s playing who unless you have a distinct ear. Steve Carrel as Blue to Phoebe Waller-Bridge as Blossom can’t do anything wrong. But my favorite out of all of them had to be Lewis (voiced by the late Louis Gossett Jr.), the wise, older teddy bear who runs the retirement home for the friends. I just found him comforting for some reason. Others, such as Matt Damon (an anthropomorphic sunflower), Maya Rudolph (a pink alligator), and Bradley Cooper (a glass of water with a talking ice cube), lend their talents to the various weird characters even though the development isn’t found. Most of them are brought to life through some pretty cool visual effects that blend well enough with the live-action environments.

From a storytelling viewpoint, that’s where the problems lie when that balance of humor and heart didn’t resonate with me. You can tell Krasinski has the touching moments in the right place. There’s undoubtedly amusement, such as a sequence of Bea reimagining the retirement home with a dance number set to Tina Turner. It also lays down themes of growing up and how imaginary friends can help in difficult times in almost a depressing way for children to understand, resulting in an inconsistent tone. Not to mention the lack of focus on the human side, where there’s little interest in Krasinski’s role as Bea’s dad, mainly since they’ve never explained in depth why he’s going into surgery. Those emotional touches might be earned, but not enough to make me tear up as I hoped to. The story also leaned on being predictable, with a late revelation that conflicted me in how a particular reveal came off as slightly evident.

Like most movies geared toward kids, I’d love IF more if it had come out when I was probably eight, though I will notice the slow pacing. However, besides a few laughs from here, there’s not much worth remembering. This could’ve been a genuine surprise walking into the theater, but it falls short of becoming a classic in some eyes.

IF sees John Krasinshi’s creativity on display for an imaginative concept to please the young audience. But a story as impressive as this could’ve used more work to be more engaging than pushing for those emotions aimed at adults rather than kids. I wouldn’t go far as to say it’s a complete misfire as others have claimed it to be, yet here’s hoping his next film goes above and beyond from a somewhat disappointing time.