IF

If movies were graded on imagination alone, if heart was all that mattered, if good intentions won Oscars….well, suffice to say, ‘IF’ would be an absolute masterpiece.

Oh, it’s still a pretty great movie……IF you focus on what MAKES it great.

Writer/director John Krasinski (who’s also part of the cast of this one) displays the same kind of penchant for thinking outside the box with ‘IF’ that he did with the thriller ‘A Quiet Place’, although these are obviously two very different creatures.  One is full of outlandish creatures, hiding spots and mysterious plot twists.  The other is a horror movie.

But don’t kid yourself, ‘IF’ is very much for kids….and, for that matter, the kid in every one of us.  If you’re too cranky to embrace an eclectic approach, if you’re stubborn enough to demand everything be cut and dry, if you’re unwilling to even slightly fall in love with this film BECAUSE of its unfamiliar approach – well then you need ‘IF’ even more than you want to admit.

The plot features Bea (Cailey Fleming), a 12-year old girl, struggling to find her place and any kind of contentment in the midst of both her mother’s untimely passing and her father’s illness.  While staying in New York at her grandmother’s house, she stumbles across a reclusive neighbour named Calvin (Ryan Reynolds), who is secretly looking after IFs – imaginary friends – who have been abandoned by their kids.  Inspired for the first time in a long while, Bea decides she’ll help find new kids for the IFs, so she assists Calvin in launching a matchmaking service.  But who ultimately ends up helping who is……well, let’s just say, predictability in some corners is one of the tiny faults of ‘IF’.  And I say ‘tiny’, because this story veers in the exact direction you’re hoping it will go.

The promotion for the movie has largely been the kooky imaginary creatures-come-to-life, voiced by the likes of Steve Carell, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, George Clooney, Matt Damon, etc., etc….it’s really quite an impressive list of talent, one very worth tooting that horn for.  BUT the secret sauce in how, at the end of the day, ‘IF’ ultimately works, is Krasinki’s gift to show this tale through the child’s eyes….to focus on what joy really is, which to grown-ups, isn’t necessarily evident at first glance.  It’s a bit of an uneven narrative, but it’s so triumphantly sweet, the adult critic in me can pound sound.  The kid wins.