May 20, 2024
Even since her mother died of cancer a few years ago, Bea (Cailey Fleming) tried her best to act like an adult. One day, she had to stay in the New York City apartment of her grandmother Margaret (Fiona Shaw) while her father (John Krasinski) was in a hospital awaiting surgery. Even though her father tried to cheer her up with things they used to do when she was younger, Bea would insist that she was not a child anymore.
One night, she met Cal (Ryan Reynolds), a man who worked with cute creatures who turned out to be imaginary friends (or IF for short). Blue (Steve Carell) was a delightfully big furry purple giant. Blossom (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) was a butterfly with black tubular arms and legs, wearing a pale pink dress, vest and gloves. They had been abandoned when their children grew up. Bea thought she could help Cal help them.
Cailey Fleming started her movie career playing a child Rey in "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" (2015). She may already be 17 now, but Fleming still looked very much like a bright-eyed pre-teen girl here in "IF," much like Lindsay Lohan or Ariana Grande when they were that age. As Cal, Ryan Reynolds pretty much reprised his role in "Free Guy," interacting with a host of computer-generated characters in comic action situations.
Cal brought Bea and us into Memory Lane Retirement Home, a secret place under the swing ride of the Coney Island amusement park to meet more IFs. This colorful haven for retired IF's was under the charge of an old teddy bear named Lewis (Louis Gossett, Jr.). The production designer had a fun field day creating different sets for various IFs, voiced by an array of stars, like Emily Blunt, Bradley Cooper, Matt Damon, George Clooney, Amy Schumer, etc...
The poster seemed to promise a live-action version of "Monsters, Inc" as Blue looked a lot like Sully. However, the main story turned out to be a lot more sentimental. I do not remember myself nor any of my kids having an imaginary friend at all when we were children. When they defined what the title "IF" actually meant, I thought I would not be able to connect emotionally. Unexpectedly, I did get teary-eyed at the end, and that felt good. 7/10.
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