The Wasteland Reviewer

IF (2024) Written Review

Did you also think John Krasinski’s new film IF was just going to be a rip-off of Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends? Many certainly did (at least those who know this fantastic show from Cartoon Network). Who could blame anyone though? The marketing for this film has been insanely light on plot elements. I doubt most even knew what this film was going to even be about. Most certainly are not prepared for the number of emotions this new film is going to stir inside them. 

What is IF even about then? You have a young girl named Bea (portrayed by Cailey Fleming) who has been through much trauma. A well-constructed home video montage to start the film shows her loving family…and the eventual death of her mother from cancer (make those tissues handy for this film). But then her father (John Krasinski) needs heart surgery. Poor girl! She moves in with her grandmother (Fiona Shaw) but her life changes when she meets a couple of imaginary friends and a charming fellow named Cal (Ryan Reynolds). Bea takes it upon herself to find an imaginary friend for a young boy in the hospital. Luckily, she has a whole retirement home full of IFs to choose from. Where this film takes the audience from here is stacked with emotional moments with plenty of tears (happy AND sad ones). 

Is this film as funny and zany as the trailer made it seem? The novelty of the impressive amounts of fun imaginary friends is not a loss on the experience. The incredible voice cast helps a lot as well as SO many famous actors lend their voices to these wonderfully colorful and fun characters. But this film is not all fun and games (even though it would still be endearing if it was). There are some seriously heavy emotional moments throughout this film. The beginning montage just sets the tone for the rest of the film. Do we see the mother die? No…but we feel it none-the-less. There are truly cathartic moments featuring an old bear IF (Louis Gossett Jr.) as well as a scene with Bea’s grandmother finally feeling like her old self again. There are a surprising number of tender and feel-good moments throughout this film as well. 

Does the story hold this big creative space together? Not quite. This is where the film is losing a decent amount of people. There is very little structure to this narrative as it floats between ideas and characters in a fluid way. Even the main mission of Bea changes multiple times which makes it hard to really anchor down on what this film is trying to be. The emotion is there. The characters are there. The high-level conceptual ideas are there. But how they are all thread together in a story is not exactly satisfying in the way that it hopes. By the end, you understand the bigger picture and the grander themes of the film but in the moments of watching, it just feels so scattered. 

The performers in the film are most certainly the main highlight but who are the true standouts? There will be no listing off all the stars in this film (the surprise for some is so worth just experiencing) but there are some standouts who work on a much deeper level. Fleming is so endearing as our Bea who takes on this journey into the fantastical. This joyous young woman shows the awe and love for this newly found world but also a maturity in handling the heavier moments in Bea’s story (a later scene with her father probably being the standout). Reynolds reins it in a bit with this charming turn, especially as there is much more to his character, Cal, than you might expect. Steve Carrell is NOT reining it in as he is having a blast, but he is still able to deliver in the more emotional moments as well. Shaw is not getting enough praise as Bea’s grandmother who is part of the emotional core of the film. But probably the biggest voice performance (this side of Carrell) is Gossett Jr. His Lewis character adds so much weight to this film and the specific scenes that he is in.

Does IF deliver like Krasinski’s other high-profile efforts have? This one is certainly more divisive than A Quiet Place, but it is hard to find a reason to dislike this movie. There are moments that can feel a little TOO emotional and manipulative but this whole journey is earnest in how open the film is to wear its emotions on its sleeves. This voice cast is quite impressive and deserves to be experienced. There are some strong themes about maturity and “child in all of us” which makes this such a universally resonant experience.