Daddy-daughter date 'IF' is too pleasantly sentimental for its own good

IF
2.5 out of 5 Stars
Director: John Krasinski
Writer: John Krasinski
Starring: Cailey Fleming, Ryan Reynolds, John Krasinski
Rated: PG for thematic elements and mild language.

Synopsis: IF is about a girl who discovers that she can see everyone’s imaginary friends — and what she does with that superpower — as she embarks on a magical adventure to reconnect forgotten IFs with their kids. IF stars Cailey Fleming, Ryan Reynolds, John Krasinski, Fiona Shaw, and the voices of Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Louis Gossett Jr. and Steve Carell alongside many more as the wonderfully unique characters that reflect the incredible power of a child’s imagination.

Review: In a preview reel that played before our screening of “IF” began, director John Krasinski told the audience that he made the film for dads and daughters. I joked with my colleagues that I wasn’t either and there clearly wasn’t any reason for me to stay. And then Ryan Reynolds described the film as a live-action Pixar film. The combination of those comments reminded me that when I sat down to see “Up” for the first time I thought there would be very little for me to connect with. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

I wholly believe that Krasinski made “IF” for his pre-teen daughters. The film is decidedly stuck in that space when young people are reluctantly forced to give up their childhood fantasies. Bea (Cailey Fleming), our 12-year-old protagonist, makes it very clear that she is finished with being a kid and is entirely committed to letting go of the magic that surrounded her as a child. Based on the few moments that we are shown, Bea had a brilliant childhood filled with storytelling, costumes, glitter, and two parents who adored her. Bea’s journey through childhood changes course when tragedy intervenes and breaks the wonderous bubble that protected Bea from the realities of life. And of death too.

And we’re just through the exposition montage.

There is a time jump. By the time we are reacquainted with Bea, she’s hardened, determined to face the world as a miniature adult. She’s lost her belief in imagination. Naturally, this makes Bea attuned to seeing the discarded imaginary friends (AKA IFs) that live in her grandmother’s apartment building. It’s the apartment she grew up in. Left following the tragedy and only returns now because her father has gone into the hospital for heart surgery.

With her father cooped up in the hospital (it doesn’t appear that he’s actually in any hurry to have surgery) and her well-meaning grandmother too much of a reminder of what life was like before, Bea seeks a father figure in Cal (Ryan Reynolds) who runs a business trying to place forgotten IFs with those seeking an imaginary playmate.

It isn’t a successful business. Nonetheless, her time with Cal and the IFs awakens her creative mind. It’s pleasant, pretty, and strangely lacking most of the tension you might expect. The film doesn’t completely avoid the fact that Bea would be left parentless if her father’s surgery is unsuccessful. It just finds a way to make the “real” part of her life feel less consequential than it should.

Adventures spontaneously appear. Frowns are flipped upside down. Eventually, the audience is clued in on the nature of these events.

Only once do we really get to dive into Bea’s imagination. Mostly she just runs around with Cal and one or two of the IFs. There are a few funny moments, but it is mostly just filled with a general sentimentality.

The cast is good. Cailey Fleming does most of the heavy lifting, and the dialed-back version of Ryan Reynolds gets to be charming without being overly smarmy. I like a lot of the art design. Some of the IFs are weird for weird's sake.

Krasinski has said that he made the film for his two daughters. I imagine he wasn’t trying to teach any hard lessons, just trying to get them to smile. There is value in that. It’s just not as interesting for this member of the audience as it could be.

If you are caught somewhere in your tweens, “IF” probably works just enough to keep you entertained. The further you get from that demographic (in either direction) the less the magic works.

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