‘Wonkily constructed screenplay’ lets down John Krasinski’s new family-friendly film IF

An all-ages audience with an original story is rare in this day and age, but the star-studded cast can’t save this well-intentioned flick, writes Leigh Paatsch.

From an all-star cast in a film about imaginary friends to a sport documentary, Leigh Paatsch delves this week’s top movie picks.

IF (PG)

Cailey Fleming and Steve Carell star in Paramount Pictures' new movie IF. Picture: Supplied

Director: John Krasinski (A Quiet Place)

Starring: Cailey Fleming, Ryan Reynolds, John Krasinski, Fiona Shaw

Rating: ★★½

Now showing on general release

A movie like IF – targeting an all-ages audience with an original story – is truly rare in this day and age.

With so many sequels, remakes, spin-offs and reboots flooding the family friendly market every year, it is clear we need more fresh ideas and new concepts on the big screen.

However, IF does come with some buts that may hold it back from widespread success.

Though unfailingly well-intentioned, a wonkily constructed screenplay works against IF at several crucial junctures.

In case you were wondering, that all-caps title stands for imaginary friends. As the movie begins, we learn there is a busy dimension all around us populated entirely by IFs, all of whom have been discarded by children.

While no one IF resembles another, all of them yearn for a new best buddy to give their lives meaning and purpose.

Ryan Reynolds, Cailey Fleming, Steve Carell and Phoebe Waller-Bridge are some of IFs all-star cast. Picture: Supplied

A 12-year-old girl named Bea (played by Cailey Fleming) might hold the key to freeing all IFs from an exile that was never of their choosing.

With her mother recently dead and her father (John Krasinski, also credited as the writer and director here) seriously ill in hospital, Bea is sent to live with her grandmother in an vintage apartment block.

The stresses of all these changes unlocks a strange ability for Bea: she can now see IFs, and it isn’t long before she has made fast friends with several of these comically complicated creatures.

Eventually, Bea learns that her grandma’s upstairs neighbour, Cal (Ryan Reynolds), is also blessed (and cursed) by an even stronger link to the world of IFs.

Together, the pair embark on a crusade to find new partners for as many IFs as they can, starting with a hulkingly huge, hairy purple beast named Blue (voiced by Steve Carell).

The striking production design of this movie (all IFs are vividly animated within a live-action setting) is its strongest asset.

Ryan Reynolds, as Call, in a scene of the new film IF with the character of Lewis, played by Louis Gossett Jr.

The slapstick-driven antics of Blue and his crew (which range from unicorns, robots, pirates and mice, all the way through to a talking ice cube in a glass of water) will undoubtedly resonate with younger viewers.

However, it is hard to ignore the main storyline never forges the deeper emotional connection that Krasinski clearly had in mind.

It could be argued that framing so much of the movie around the friendship of Bea and Cal is what is holding the movie back from totally winning over an audience.

Every once in a while you find yourself wondering why a 12-year-old girl would be allowed to spend so much unsupervised time all over the city with an adult male she barely knows.

As genuinely innocent as this pairing proves to be, it just doesn’t stack up against contemporary parenting standards when it comes to interacting with strangers.

It’s a bit IFfy.

THE THREE MUSKETEERS PART 1: D’ARTAGNAN (M)

Scene from the French film The Three Musketeers: D'Artagnan.

Director: Martin Bourboulon

Starring: Francois Civil, Vincent Cassel, Romain Dris, Eva Green

Rating: ★★★★½

Now showing at selected cinemas

It has taken a while for this lavish French-produced adaptation of the classic Alexandre Dumas adventure novel to reach Australian screens, but the wait has proved absolutely worth it.

This first instalment expands upon that fabled period where the trio of original Musketeers – Athos (Vincent Cassel), Aramis (Romain Duris) and Porthos (Pio Marmai) – elect to sub in a new recruit from off the bench. As it is the early 1600s, a warm welcome does not await the young and hungry D’Artagnan (Francois Civil).

Such are the complex political clashes rattling King Louis XIII’s France to its foundations, D’Artagnan is going to have to prove his worth to the Musketeers before he gains total acceptance. The dynamically dashing nature of the action scenes live up to the swashbuckling standards many will be expecting.

However, a sharp focus on story coverage is a valuable bonus which will have all viewers happily counting down the days until Part 2 (where Eva Green’s scheming Milady will take a more prominent role) drops next month.

THE FINAL: ATTACK ON WEMBLEY (M)

The Final: Attack on Wembley is now streaming on Netflix. Picture: Netflix

Directors: Robert Miller and Kwabena Oppong

Starring: English National Soccer Team, Italian National Soccer Team

Rating: ★★★

Now streaming on Netflix

This sobering sports doco tracks the remarkable sequence of events that unfolded at London’s Wembley Stadium on July 11, 2021. At 8pm that evening, England would face off against Italy in the final match of the Euro football tournament. However, in the 12 hours preceding, many thousands of ticketless fans took over the perimeter of the arena.

What started out as a boozy pre-game celebration gradually turned into something ugly, dangerous and unprecedented. An idea spread throughout the chanting throng that a mass rushing of the gates might get them a seat at the big match. All hell broke loose, to the extent where it is miraculous there were no fatalities on the day.

A straightforward, no-bulldust collection of eyewitness accounts – chillingly verified by stacks of phone footage – makes for compelling and revealing viewing.

Originally published as ‘Wonkily constructed screenplay’ lets down John Krasinski’s new family-friendly film IF