IF (2024) Review

THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

In our lives, so much can happen where we’ll forget the good stuff as in happiness. You don’t buy that? Look at IF.

PLOT

The 2024 film follows a 12 year old girl named Bea, who is grieving over the death of her mother who recently died of cancer. And now, her father is waiting for a heart surgery that’ll be held in the same hospital where her mom died. In the meantime, she stays in an apartment with her grandmother Margaret. One night, she encounters unordinary creatures, a large furry purple one named Blue and a butterfly like being named Blossom alongside a man named Calvin. Calvin hesitantly explains he is in charge of helping imaginary friends, aka IFs, be paired with new children as their originals have grown up and forgotten about them. Wanting to help, Bea sees their retirement community where an elderly teddy bear named Lewis is head of the facility. It becomes more difficult than anticipated when failing to pair up at least one IF with a child from the hospital named Benjamin. Inspired to use her imagination, she takes Lewis’ advice to reunite IFs with their original children instead of being paired with new ones. She gives it a chance when recognizing Blossom in a picture of Margaret’s, confirming she was her IF. She gets her grandma to remember by playing a record that’ll inspire her to dance which helps her remember her. With that instilling hope, they make contact with Blue’s original child, Jeremy (Bobby Moynihan), who is nervous about starting a business promotion. Bea helps him feel confident when reminding him of his favorite snack, croissants that made him happy in his childhood, and Blue seals the deal when hugging him right before the interview. When returning to Margaret’s apartment, her grandma informs her that her dad had a complication after treatment. Unprepared to say goodbye, Bea takes Calvin’s advice and tells him a story of how she was pushing herself to be an adult when in truth she still needs him. This wakes him up who recovers from the complication. When going back to the apartment, she discovers that Calvin was an IF all along when discovering his room was just a storage room. Before leaving, she finds an old drawing that confirms he was her IF. She goes back to the apartment one last time to say aloud to Calvin, thanking him for the help and assures she’ll always need him. This allows her to see him and the IFs again. The film would end with the IFs reuniting with their original children and Benjamin officially gets one for himself; Bea’s dad even reunites with his own that was an invisible kid named Keith.

THOUGHTS

John Krasinski proved to be an inventive filmmaker from starring in nbc’s The Office to creating a horror classic out of A Quiet Place. For the fourth time in the director’s chair, he gives another impressive story worth sharing and this time, it’s family friendly. The idea on helping imaginary friends stay in touch with children is honestly sweet because it’s hard to find purpose when not needed anymore. They got as creative as possible with each one we get to see and they’re just exactly what a kid like myself would imagine and the visual effects done to bring them all to life was impressive. From talking Ice (Bradley Cooper), a bubble (Awkwafina), a unicorn (Emily Blunt), a spaceman (George Clooney), a flower (Matt Damon), a talking banana (Bill Hader) a large piece of slime (Keegan Michael Key), a magician mouse (Sebastian Maniscalco), a dog like superhero (Sam Rockwell), a robot (Jon Stewart), an obscured face of a detective (Christopher Meloni), a cat in an octopus costume (Blake Lively), a violin (Allyson Seeger), a ghost (Matthew Rhys), an animated art teacher (Richard Jenkins), an alligator (Maya Rudolph), a gummy bear (Amy Schumer) to even a melting marshmallow voiced by Krasinski himself, my kidself would befriend with all if I can. I straight up have doubts that Brad Pitt was Keith the whole time based on the credits, but I would be down to take a chance on an invisible man being a friend. Obviously, the more popular ones go to Blue, Blossom & Lewis being the most effective for their simplicity. Steve Carrell aims for adorability like he did as Hammy for Over the Hedge and he nails it again as Blue. His enthusiasm really matched the inner kid in us all and is all about having fun which is all he seeks when trying to get a new kid before ultimately returning to Jeremy. Phoebe Waller Bridge was excellent as Blossom because she stood out for being the calmest of figures in this setting because she accepts things are past her control and knows taking bets on anything could risk future disappointment. That all changes when she reunites with Margaret after years of being forgotten. You feel all the sense of open mindedness and sincerity from Fiona Shaw’s character when she pours her heart in her brief dance. And once she acknowledges her in the end, it was all worth it. And the late Louis Gossett Jr. was the perfect choice to provide the perfect amount of warmth as Lewis. With the teddy bear being 93 years old according to Calvin, he’s lived a long life without his kid but that doesn’t mean he won’t help others find happiness again because he knows everyone deserves it. All the advice he gives to Bea is proven to be effective as the rest of the IFs get to be seen again in happy ending fashion. Seeing how all these colorful characters made me smile in their own way is because I was able to pick up on the story’s meaning of happiness. I learn how we should be able to maintain it and never put it aside whenever bad things like loss happen. It is okay to grieve over it, but we don’t have to stop doing what makes us happy to prove said point. This is the journey that young Cailey Fleming goes through as Bea who just doesn’t know what to do without her mom and can’t bear how her life will be without her dad. Even Krasinski acts his off in playing her dad who is smiling non stop when in fact fighting for his life. The optimism he had was incredible and it’s hard to keep that when you’re not sure if you’ll make it to the next day. She didn’t know what to do until her own IF gave her the comfort that everything will be okay should things get any more drastic. I did not pick it up at all that Calvin was one all along until realizing no human such as Jeremy and Benjamin for example didn’t even acknowledge him when in the scene. Ryan Reynolds gives his own heartwarming performance in this character finding a new purpose like everyone else and feels like helping others would help him until it was one reunion that made him content with what the future can hold for him. He’s grouchy half the time because a part of him feels like he failed to make Bea happy when it mattered. Once they found their way back to each other however, it was really just a setback for them both because she had to remember how much happiness works and why it matters. With everyone finding peace in their predicaments, it is safe nothing else could stop them from losing it again. This movie is fine for what it is, but the decision to be too simple can lead to some head scratching moments. For starters, why doesn’t Cal wait until morning to get Blue? If the kid can’t see him, there wouldn’t be anything to worry about. That’s more surprising than the fact Blue doesn’t tell Bea he’d go to the hospital because if they’re so close, he should keep in touch in case she were to be his new kid. And let’s be honest, why would Ice stay on the table when Blue got interviewed? Everyone knows how clumsy he is, so he should’ve seen it coming that he would mistake him to be a normal cup of iced water. And lastly, ain’t it weird that Margaret doesn’t check on Bea until it was an emergency? It is one thing to give the kid space, but a text wouldn’t hurt compared to constant calls. Other than that, this movie is still just right. In short, IF is a solid family flick for getting creative with an important message that makes us smile from start to finish. You want to smile? Start with this.