#if movie review

[agentnico]

IF (2024) review

Seems like John Krasinski wanted to apologise to his kids after scarring them for life with A Quiet Place.

Plot: After discovering she can see everyone's imaginary friends, a girl embarks on a magical adventure to reconnect forgotten imaginary friends with their kids.

One must ponder the question WHAT IF John Krasinski decided to make a good movie? Okay, that’s harsh, but in all seriousness IF isn’t a great film. About 30 minutes into watching this, I realized it wasn't going to have the broad, universal appeal of many films in this genre. It's extremely sad in parts, and then shifts to total silliness, then back to sad again. Films can be a lot of things at different times, but it was sort of whiplash here going from silly to sad and back again. As such it begs the question who this movie is intended for? Naturally one would think children as it’s got goofy imaginary characters and a lot of slapstick and stupid jokes, but then there are genuinely depressing and hard-hitting moments where it seems to connect more with adults and their traumatic experiences. The film suffers a huge identity crisis that is its primary downfall.

Also IF is boring. The plot just sort of wanders and things happen that bear no purpose towards progressing the primary narrative. The characters are also poorly written without, dare I say, much imagination, with Cailey Fleming as the little girl protagonist being extremely monotone and lifeless, and for someone who’s supposed to be inspiring and helping these imaginary friends find a new home, she lacks any energy to motivate. I recall she was way more likeable and charismatic as Judith Grimes in The Walking Dead and it’s not like that show is known for great writing, especially in the later seasons, yet there she left much more of an impression than in this film. Ryan Reynolds is enjoying his cool uncle era, yet even he felt really restrained here. Like it is still Reynolds doing his shtick, but it was missing something which I can’t put my finger on. As for the imaginary friends themselves, there are lots of voice cameos featured throughout, but again not many of these creatures actually had that memorable of a personality. Steve Carell is trying his upmost best as the big purple fluff that’s walked out of Monsters Inc., but I was finding him irritating more than anything. Of the more amusing ones there was Richard Jenkins as an Art Teacher and he has the most delightful voice, Bradley Cooper as a glass of ice which I found more entertaining than I should have, and Sam Rockwell as a superhero dog deserves a movie of his own. And again why the hell is Awkwafina in this? She’s voiced characters in like a gazillion animations in the last decade but her voice is so grading.

Usually I would admit to not being the right target audience for a movie that’s billed as for children, however in this case I feel the movie doesn’t really fit for anyone per se. It does seem that John Krasinski works best when there’s less dialogue like with his spectacular horror A Quiet Place, yet here IF seems to miss the mark. I’m certain this is done with good intentions, and maybe I’m being overly cynical here, but IF does not paint a solid case for imaginary friends.

Overall score: 3/10

[cassianandfenrysaremyboyos]

Goncharov coming third in tumblr's top 100 movies of 2023 is so damn funny. Imagine being a film studio exec who spent millions making some of the other 97 movies listed below it only to be beaten by a film that cost exactly zero dollars to make and doesn't exist

[envelopandkissme]

this fucks

[luhvrlis]

big 4

[poisondartlesbian]

[untamed-allure]

[sustancy]

[frogshunnedshadows]

2008 newspaper ad for Twilight.

[phantomrose96]

The realest part of the Barbie Movie was when Barbie was like "okay but what if this hurts his feelings? what if this makes him sad? :(" after Ken stole her house, stole her car, and stole her agency, because as a woman you still have to second guess everything you do on the assessment of whether it might hurt a man's feelings.

And then that apprehension was proven right one million times over by the entire Conservative Internet Manosphere pissing and shitting and screaming themselves hoarse over Barbie daring to hurt a man's feelings.

[claudeleine]

thanks cliff!!

[pintsofguinnesmakeyoustrong]

absolutely fucking reeling from puss in boots the last wish. my grown ass friends made me see it and it absolutely fucked. it was mad max fury road for kids. it was a horror movie about the fear of death. it was a western about an ageing outlaw trying to regain his youth with the help of his ex fiance and homeless harvey guillen. it was about found family. it was about needing people and asking for help. it had the best depiction of a panic attack i've ever seen in a mainstream film. the villain looked exactly like boris johnson. there was a wicker man reference. it had a kill count higher than most slasher films. it set up shrek 5. they even said fuck.

[opt1gan]

Smbp !!!

[fandom]

Movies

Nine rings for mortal men doomed to die, five nights in an abandoned pizzeria, and one (1) fourth-generation Honda Odyssey.

Deadpool & Wolverine

Five Nights at Freddy's +26

Lord of the Rings +4

The Hunger Games +10

Saw +18

Dune +53

Barbie -6

Challengers

Trolls Band Together

Saltburn

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse -9

Red, White, and Royal Blue -6

Transformers One

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes +76

A Minecraft Movie

Nimona -12

The Hobbit +10

Inside Out 2

Scream

Mean Girls +17

Sonic the Hedgehog 3

Venom: The Last Dance +21

Twilight +1

How to Train Your Dragon +8

Dead Poets Society

The Boy and the Heron

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

Ultraman: Rising

The Marvels +48

Goncharov -27

Coraline +16

Lisa Frankenstein

Howl's Moving Castle -7

Top Gun: Maverick -14

Les Misérables +9

Luca

An Extremely Goofy Movie

Steamboat Willie

The Addams Family -30

The Super Mario Bros. Movie

Shrek -24

Spirited Away -2

The Batman -2

Twisters

Trolls World Tour

Brokeback Mountain

Fight Club +41

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire

I Saw the TV Glow

Star Wars: Episode III—Revenge of the Sith +12

Knives Out -40

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

Rite Here Rite Now

The Nightmare Before Christmas +19

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem -34

The Princess Bride +4

Frozen -3

Little Shop Of Horrors

Monkey Man

Thunderbolts*

Night at the Museum +9

Gladiator II

The Lion King

Alien: Romulus

Ratatouille

Soul +5

Wreck-It Ralph

The Wild Robot

Pacific Rim -6

Avatar: The Way of Water -55

Princess Mononoke -13

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

American Psycho -16

The Thing -26

The Fantastic Four: First Steps

The Mummy -4

Longlegs

Heathers +18

Beauty And The Beast -46

Oppenheimer -67

Alien (1979)

Titanic

Equestria Girls -9

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story -42

The Little Mermaid -67

Marie Antoinette

Pirates of the Caribbean -3

The Lost Boys -12

The Dark Knight

My Neighbor Totoro -9

John Wick -42

Ponyo

Kung Fu Panda +4

Hellraiser -19

Encanto -50

Wish

The Shining

Star Wars: Episode IV—A New Hope

Ghostbusters

Lilo & Stitch -13

The number in italics indicates how many spots a title moved up or down from the previous year. Bolded titles weren’t on the list last year.

Love movies? Discuss plots, follow franchises, and share movie memes. Right this way.

[allaboutmovies22]

[luhvrlis]