IF (2024)

IF (2024)

 

3/10

 

Starring           

Cailey Fleming

Ryan Reynolds

John Krasinski

Fiona Shaw

 

Directed by John Krasinski

 

When a movie stars Ryan Reynolds, John Krasinski, and features a wonderful voice cast with Steve Carell, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, and others, you would expect it to be good. Then, when it’s about imaginary friends, which people had when they were younger and have now grown out of, you’d think it might be an interesting ride. But sadly, this movie is boring. IF is a fantasy comedy that offers nothing in the fantasy realm to hold your attention, nor any comedy to make it memorable.

The movie is written and directed by John Krasinski, but the story never takes off. It starts very dull and never tries to change pace. The ability to stay awake while watching this movie is a talent, which I am sorry I was not blessed with. I was only able to finish it thanks to the power of pausing. Streaming it on Paramount+ was the best decision I made when I decided not to watch it in the cinema. It drove me to sleep, and I had a nice nap. I woke up, resumed from where I stopped (when Cal (Reynolds) took Bea to the Memory Lane Retirement Home, 40 minutes in), and watched it through to the end, only to regret it.

IF (Imaginary Friends) is about a little girl named Bea. Bea has lost her mother to cancer and is now facing her father’s heart condition. At twelve years old, she’s staying with her grandmother. On her way home from the hospital, she sees a creature that doesn’t look real. She follows it, and it leads her to an apartment upstairs from hers. This happens again, and this time Bea sees the creature with a man named Cal, who is on his way to retrieve a large creature named Blue. It is there Bea meets the creature she saw earlier, a butterfly-like thing, and she faints. She wakes up in Cal’s apartment and learns that Blue and the butterfly creature, Blossom, are imaginary friends who no longer have kids, as the children have grown up. Cal is trying to see if he can find new kids for them. The catch is that the kids must form a connection with the creatures, and only then can they see them. Bea decides she will help Cal, and while managing her father’s hospital visits, she’s out trying to connect imaginary creatures to new kids.

As I said, the story looks like it would be an amazing time on screen, but it is anything but that.