Heavy on heart and imagination yet somehow lacking both
Written and Directed by: John Krasinski
Cast: Cailey Fleming, Ryan Reynolds, John Krasinski
Swift shot: I only wanted to know how it holds up against Drop Dead Fred. For me, IF just wasn’t nearly as good. And, I am beginning to think I’m not too fond of Krasinski’s storytelling. Starting out with A Quiet Place, I wasn’t one of those people gaga over him. I do think A Quiet Place Part II was a much better film. So, I had high hopes for IF, and I set the bar higher than I would for other filmmakers. Even if Krasinski is still a bit of a neophyte. I wanted a bit more.
Bea (Fleming) is a girl who has had her fair share of suffering in life. Her mother passed away from cancer when she was younger. And now her father has been sent to the hospital for a heart issue. And it is the same hospital where her mother took her final breaths. Because it is an extended stay, perhaps permanent, Bea has been sent to stay with her grandmother played by Fiona Shaw.
Before the end of her first day, she notices an odd-looking little girl who she is desperate to play with, as she doesn’t really know anyone else her own age in the building. But when she inquires at the door she saw the girl disappear into, a rude voice from inside tells her to go away and there is no little girl living there.
Bea knows that’s a bunch of bull, so she starts staking out the door in the hopes she will be rewarded. And what she stumbles onto is a motley crew of Imaginary Friends (IFs – ha ha) all being led by a scruffy-looking guy named Cal (Reynolds).
There’s Blossom, voiced by Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who somehow managed not to annoy the ever-living Hell out of me, for once. She is a kind of ballerina bug right out of the Roaring Twenties.
You also have Blue, who is purple, but his kid was color-blind (ha ha), and he is voiced by Steve Carell who was trying really hard not to sound like Gru or Michael Scott. I will leave it to you to see if that was a win or loss for the film.
Turns out, much like with Toy Story, once kids outgrow their IFs, they kind of don’t die. They linger around for eternity – did I mention this was a horror film yet? And unless they can find another kid to match with, they are sent to a retirement facility tucked into Coney Island for those IFs doomed to walk the earth eternally kidless.
I just hit fifty this year, and the thought of my poor imaginary friend stuck in some eternal holding facility until what, I die? Do they also die with me, or do they get to live on past my eternal sleep? Or, if my IF finds another kid, which is essentially impossible, if you think about it, does that mean they are rewarded with more life? I mean, heck, this is a kid’s movie, right? Right!?
Anyway, what I liked about IF were some of the corny gags and jokes, but they get stale incredibly fast. Your kids will probably still appreciate them, of course. And that is, in theory, the target audience. I also liked the heart-string tugs that gutted me to my core as I was reminded of those no longer with me, the melancholy sadness that crept into every scene with a heaviness that was never truly balanced by levity, although Krasinski did painfully try to inject it in the few scenes he was in.
Now for what I didn’t like. The characters never felt like they truly connected in any meaningful way. I don’t know if it was the wooden, emotionless expression on Fleming throughout the whole movie, or if it just felt like picking up a puzzle box after years and trying to mash pieces together that just don’t fit. These characters didn’t fit.
And the spoiler, twist is so obvious it borders on the ridiculous. However, I must admit, this may very well be some little kid’s The Sixth Sense as they might look back on it with fond memories of how they “didn’t see it coming” all those years ago. Who knows? My hunch is really small kids will just like the goofy characters and who cares about plot and story for them, anyway?
The story tissue that ties everything together is that Bea is distracting herself from the possibility that she could wind up an orphan. That’s heavy stuff, but she and her dad are never allowed to have a serious moment about it even once. I am all for “A Murder in Savannah,” Jim, but at some point the audience wants to see a “just keep rowing” scene, ya know?
The story could have used more time between father and daughter and less time exploring themes we already addressed years ago in Toy Story.
I didn’t hate IF, but I was expecting to be more entertained, and I sometimes wonder if Krasinski doesn’t get more play in Hollywood given his clout and his connections. Like, how many people have Reynolds and Carell in their phones?
I know he and I run in the same circles, so I hope he doesn’t get pissed off by this review, and I hope he takes it as the constructive criticism it is well and truly meant to be. I am pushing him, much like a real friend will tell you if you are wearing something that looks dumb on you. I don’t only want Krasinski to do better, I know he can and will. If he just taps a bit more into his imagination and starts cutting out some yes-folks, he will get there.
