I feel like disliking If is like punching a Winnie the Pooh plushy… did the toy really deserve it or was I just having a bad day? I’m not sure… but this earnest and good-willed movie isn’t something I want to punch, it’s something I was busy watching while punching in those little “Diet” divots on the lid of my Coke.
The flick is about a twelve year old girl whose dad (John Krasinski) is in the hospital when she starts seeing unemployed imaginary friends (IFs). She decides to re-home them since their original kids aged out. Oh, and Ryan Reynolds is in too. You might forget.
Eh… this film kept trying to tug at my heartstrings but I kept thinking “yeah, and so what?” Surely there were some charming and sweet moments (and the music number was great) but they didn’t build up to them well enough, leaving me distracted, wondering why the film wasn’t working.
Certainly the creation story of the film is good… apparently Krasinski wanted to make a cute and fun movie for his daughters… probably the kind of film he watched as a kid. And I’m sure Ryan Reynolds wanted something he could show his kids since, you know, he probably lives in fear of them watching Deadpool.
Both too bad and too good that Reynolds is in this movie. He’s not doing the usual Ryan Reynolds schtick. He’s pretty pared down, borderline glum… and his beard is doing double duty hiding who he really is. He might as well not even be in the movie for how little he matters.
It’s really young Cailey Fleming’s movie and she’s good in it. She’s fine. She isn’t the problem that results in a string of whatever emotional beats… that’s the script failing to develop characters or reasons for me to care about their psychological well-being.
it’s certainly not the worst film ever and is has creative imaginary flair through its well-animated characters. it just doesn’t find a home in my heart. I see what they were trying to do but none of it it was built up enough… plus it has a bogus ending that felt like a rewrite when they realized kids might want to see it too.
Score: 74