As a director, John Krasinski has had an interesting run. His first two films 'Brief Interviews with Hideous Men' and 'The Hollars' - both dramedies - flew under the radar with mediocre reviews and low box office takings. It wasn't until 'A Quiet Place' that Krasinski made his mark on the industry and quickly became one to watch. 'IF' marks his first time directing not only a family film but his first feature since 'A Quiet Place' that's not part of that franchise.
'IF' follows Bea (Cailey Fleming, 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens', 'Peppermint'), who lost her mother at a young age and now her father (Krasinski, 'Detroit', 'Aloha') is now also in hospital. This means she moves back to New York with her grandmother (Fiona Shaw, 'Ammonite', 'Pixels') while her dad is undergoing operations. One night, she notices Blossom (Phoebe Waller-Bridge, 'Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny', TV & NT Live's 'Fleabag') and Blue (Steve Carell, 'Despicable Me' franchise, 'Asteroid City'), imaginary friends or "IFs" who lead her to her neighbour Cal (Ryan Reynolds, 'Deadpool' franchise, 'Free Guy') and discovers they can both see IFs. The two team up to reunite all the lost IFs with their former kids.
SWITCH: 'IF' FINAL TRAILER
'IF' tries to bite off more than it can chew. On the one hand, you have a tender story about a young girl coping with the both the loss of a parent and a sick one, and then you have the hijinks of the imaginary friends. You have these two stories at odds with either other and while you can see the story beats that link them, the tone of the two never align. For a family title it's very heavy, and the IFs are extremely lacking for the majority of the run time - and when they are on the screen, they have very little to do outside of being cameos. On that note, that is very much where the budget went; getting these big names to do one line and leave, which also explains why a lot of these characters aren't in much of the film.
'IF' tries to bite off more than it can chew. On the one hand, you have a tender story about a young girl coping with the both the loss of a parent and a sick one, and then you have the hijinks of the imaginary friends.
Cailey Fleming is the saving grace of the film. She carries much of it on her shoulders and I hope to see her in a better film, as she has some incredible talent. Reynolds, as with most of his roles lately, is playing himself and is serviceable here. Krasinski, not only directing and playing Bea's dad, also an IF. Firstly, it feels like there was no need for the father character to be sick after his wife passed, but also felt like an unrequited character along with Reynolds. The film could have had a stronger throughline if the dad and Cal discovered the IFs, going on the adventure together. It also would have removed the worst part of the film - the "twist" it feels the need to throw at us in the final minutes.
'IF' is perfectly fine, but lacks fun imaginary friends while its heartfelt real-life story gets lost in the mix. It does enough to get by but never goes above a mediocre family film. Fleming shines, but the rest just falls into a middling family adventure.