IF – Review

Release Date – 17th May 2024, Cert – U, Run-time – 1 hour 44 minutes, Director – John Krasinski

Grieving her mother, and with her father (John Krasinski) awaiting surgery, 12-year-old Bea (Cailey Fleming) discovers a world of imaginary friends looking for new children after theirs have grown up and forgotten them.

After viewing the changing corridors of the home for retired imaginary friends (IFs) a group of characters of all shapes, sizes and colours rush onto a stage for a big dance number. 12-year-old Bea (Cailey Fleming) has, for a brief second, forgotten her worries as a huge smile spreads across her face, one which passes on to the audience in a moment of pure joy – and perhaps the highlight of writer-director John Krasinski’s latest film, taking a step away from the world of A Quiet Place.

Bea is introduced to this world by Ryan Reynolds’ Cal – Reynolds providing another refreshing performance after 2022’s Spirited where he drops the Deadpool persona. Living at the top of the apartment complex where Bea’s grandmother (Fiona Shaw) lives, taking her granddaughter in after the loss of her mother (Catharine Daddario) and her father (Krasinski) is in hospital for what is promised to be a simple surgery, Bea discovers Cal and their shared ability to see otherwise invisible IFs after encountering excitable furry purple giant Blue (Steve Carrell) and cartoon butterfly-like figure Blossom (a really gentle vocal turn from Phoebe Waller-Bridge).

A whole world is uncovered of IFs who have been forgotten by their kids, all in need of new homes or else they may fade away. Bea soon sets out to do her best to help out, cue an amusing audition sequence where the film really starts to bring out the humour, by seeing if any of the children at the hospital, primarily Alan Kim’s multi-plaster-casted Benjamin, can see and connect with any of the chosen IFs. From here it’s evident that Krasinski’s film has a lot of ideas bouncing around and wants to get them in in under 2 hours. Clocking in at 1 hour and 44 minutes the need for possibly bridges scenes from one idea to another seems to have been taken out with things just moving from one to the other. While generally there may be a pacey nature there is occasionally some near-whiplash due to just how quickly the narrative seems to shift focus. Like some of the bubblier characters it never quite seems to settle.

It’s in these characters that the film best succeeds due to allowing itself to flesh out the imagination on display. Even if just in the design and personalities of certain, brief-appearing characters there’s humour to be found in some of them – a detective, called Cosmo (voiced by Christopher Meloni) in the form of a trench coat, hat and pair of eyes providing a number of good laughs in his frantic cartoonish search for clues and answers. During such moments, like the aforementioned audition montage, the film appears to let loose the most and appears most welcoming.

This isn’t to say that there’s not other nice ideas scattered throughout, there’s a good deal of charm almost from start to finish, even when very clearly setting up some stumbling emotion in the early stages for development in the later stages of the film. It’s also just nice to see another live-action (IFs aside) family film, something which still feels as if it’s depleting in numbers, luckily this one succeeds for the most part and will hopefully show there is space and want for more in the future, it should certainly go down well with its target audience.

Not just because of the variety of imaginary friends and their various quirks and personalities, but because of the strength of the lead. Cailey Fleming is truly great in the lead role and the film makes sure to keep the focus on her at all times. It was a surprise to see Reynolds not taking centre stage, or appearing as much, as you might think. Yes, he’s in a number of scenes, but the camera, and indeed Reynolds himself, isn’t consistently drawing attention to him. Bea is the core and heart of this film and a point is made not to forget that. Not hammering away and feeling as if it’s a forced point, it’s something that’s largely remembered thanks to Fleming’s performance which strikes all the right chords and really sells much of what we see in the run-time. And perhaps best getting us through the jumpier patches as we leap almost instantly from one point to another.

While there’s a slightly dizzying nature to the way IF leaps from one point to another, cramming a lot into its run-time, there’s a good deal to like and be charmed by when it comes to the characters and some of the ideas it has, all led by a very likable Cailey Fleming who really captures the heart of the piece.