IF (film)

IF is a 2024 American fantasy comedy film written, produced, and directed by John Krasinski. The film features an ensemble cast that includes Cailey Fleming, Ryan Reynolds, Krasinski, Fiona Shaw, Alan Kim, and Liza Colón-Zayas, along with the voices of Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Louis Gossett Jr., and Steve Carell. Combining live-action and animation, the film follows a young girl (Fleming) who goes through a difficult experience and begins to see everyone's imaginary friends who have been left behind as their real-life children have grown up.

Development of the film began in 2019, with Krasinski set to write and direct and Reynolds attached to star. The rest of the cast joined between October 2021 and January 2022, and filming took place in New York City between August of that year and May 2023. IF was theatrically released by Paramount Pictures in the United States on May 17, 2024. The film received mixed reviews from critics and has grossed $186 million worldwide.

Plot
Twelve-year-old Bea moves into her grandmother Margaret's apartment in New York while her father waits for heart surgery in the same hospital where her mother died of cancer years earlier. One night, Bea sees an unfamiliar creature, following it back to her grandmother's building. The next day, she sees the creature again, accompanied by a man. Bea follows them to a nearby house where the man, Cal, retrieves a large furry purple creature named Blue. She also meets the other creature, a butterfly-like being named Blossom, and faints. She awakens in Cal's apartment where she learns that he has been working with imaginary friends, nicknamed IFs, to place them with new children as their original children have grown up and forgotten them. Initially reluctant, Bea eventually decides to help Cal.

The next day, Cal takes Bea to Memory Lane Retirement Home, a retirement community for IFs housed underneath a swing ride in Coney Island. Lewis, an elderly teddy bear and the head of the facility, inspires Bea to use her imagination to redesign the facility, much to the chagrin of Cal. Bea tries to match one of the IFs with Benjamin, a young patient at the hospital, but he is unable to see any of them. Lewis suggests to Bea that maybe IFs do not need new kids, but rather to reunite with their old ones.

Talking with her grandmother, she sees a picture of her as a young dancer and recognizes Blossom in the background of the picture. Realizing Blossom was her grandmother's IF, Bea decides to test Lewis' idea. Playing one of her grandmother's records inspires Margaret to dance and she remembers Blossom, instilling Bea with hope. Following a tip, Bea, Cal, and Blue find Blue's original kid, Jeremy, now a grown man trying to launch a business. With help from Bea, Jeremy remembers Blue who gives Jeremy the confidence he needs for a business presentation.

That evening, Bea arrives at Margaret's who frantically informs her granddaughter that there has been a complication with her father's treatment. Comforted by Cal, Bea says she does not want to say goodbye to her dad, so Cal advises her to tell him a story instead. At the hospital, Bea tells her father a story about how she was pushing herself to act like a grown-up when she is just a child who still needs her father. He wakes up and they hug each other. When Bea goes outside his hospital room, she sees that all of the IFs, who accompanied her to the hospital, are gone.

Returning to her grandmother's building, Bea goes to thank Cal but discovers that the door to his apartment actually opens into an old storage room. After her dad is released from the hospital, he and Bea pack up to go home. During this, Bea realizes from an old picture she painted that Cal is actually her own IF, Calvin, forgotten after the death of her mother. She rushes to his room and thanks him for helping her and tells him she will always need him. This allows Bea to see Cal and the IFs again, and they reunite.

Some time later, Cal begins reuniting the IFs with their original kids, now grown up. Benjamin meets his IF, a cartoonish dragon with glasses and a cast. Bea and her father return home, where the latter trips over his IF, an invisible boy named Keith.

Cast

 * Cailey Fleming as Bea, a girl who can see IFs
 * Ryan Reynolds as Cal, Bea's neighbor who can see IFs
 * John Krasinski as Bea's dad
 * Fiona Shaw as Bea's grandmother
 * Alan Kim as Benjamin, a boy recuperating in the hospital
 * Liza Colón-Zayas as Janet, a nurse
 * Bobby Moynihan as Jeremy, a man who was the creator of Blue
 * Catharine Daddario as Bea's mom

Voices

 * Steve Carell as Blue, an IF who resembles a large purple monster
 * Phoebe Waller-Bridge as Blossom, a rubber hose-style butterfly-like IF
 * Louis Gossett Jr. as Lewis, an elderly teddy bear IF who runs the Memory Lane Retirement Home
 * Awkwafina as Bubble, an IF composed of a bunch of bubbles that can pop and reconstitute themselves
 * Emily Blunt as Unicorn, a plush unicorn IF
 * George Clooney as Spaceman, an astronaut IF
 * Bradley Cooper as Ice, an IF who resembles an anthropomorphic glass of water
 * Matt Damon as Flower, an IF who resembles an anthropomorphic sunflower
 * Bill Hader as Banana, an anthropomorphic banana IF who works as a water aerobics instructor at the Memory Lane Retirement Home
 * Richard Jenkins as Art Teacher, a lay figure IF who works as the art teacher at the Memory Lane Retirement Home
 * Keegan-Michael Key as Slime, an IF who resembles a green slime blob
 * John Krasinski as Marshmallow, an IF who resembles an anthropomorphic marshmallow whose head is always on fire
 * Blake Lively as Octopuss, a cat IF who wears an octopus costume
 * Allyson Seeger as Viola, an anthropomorphic viola IF with sunglasses
 * Sebastian Maniscalco as Magician Mouse, a mouse IF who is dressed like a magician
 * Christopher Meloni as Cosmo, a detective IF with an obscured face
 * Matthew Rhys as Ghost, a crown-wearing ghost IF
 * Sam Rockwell as Guardian Dog, an IF who resembles a dog superhero
 * Maya Rudolph as Alligator, a plush alligator IF
 * Amy Schumer as Gummy Bear, a large gummy bear IF
 * Jon Stewart as Robot, an IF who resembles an 80's-style toy robot in a domed helmet

Brad Pitt is credited as Keith, an invisible IF even though the character has no dialogue. The role is a reference to Pitt's cameo as Vanisher in Deadpool 2 (2018), co-starring Reynolds.

Production
In October 2019, Paramount Pictures outbid Lionsgate and Sony, among other studios, to win the rights to Imaginary Friends, a project developed by John Krasinski and Ryan Reynolds, with Krasinski set to write and direct it. In May 2021, Krasinski's Sunday Night Productions and Reynolds's Maximum Effort signed first-look deals with Paramount. In October 2021, Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Fiona Shaw joined the cast. In January 2022, Steve Carell, Alan Kim, Cailey Fleming, and Louis Gossett Jr. joined the cast, with the film retitled IF. The film reunites Krasinski and Carell, who both starred in The Office (2005–2013) as Jim Halpert and Michael Scott, respectively. In August 2022, Bobby Moynihan was added to the cast. Principal photography began on August 31, 2022, with Janusz Kamiński as cinematographer, and wrapped by early May 2023. Framestore provided the visual effects and animation. Animation director Arslan Elver and VFX supervisor Chris Lawrence worked alongside Krasinski on set and during pre- and post-production. The film is dedicated to Gossett Jr., who died before its release.

Music
Michael Giacchino composed the score for the film. The film’s soundtrack includes Tina Turner’s "Better Be Good to Me" and the “Adagio for Spartacus and Phyrigia” from Aram Khachaturian’s Spartacus.

Theatrical
IF was released by Paramount Pictures in the United States on May 17, 2024, after its originally scheduled release date of November 17, 2023 was first pushed to May 24, 2024, and then shifted forward by one week.

Home media
The film was released on digital platforms by Paramount Home Entertainment on June 18, 2024. It began streaming on Paramount+ beginning July 9, 2024, and is set to be released on Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray, and DVD on August 13, 2024.

Box office
, IF has grossed $111.1 million in the United States and Canada and $75.1 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $186.3 million. Variety estimated the film would need to gross $275 million worldwide in order to break-even.

In the United States and Canada, IF was released alongside The Strangers: Chapter 1 and Back to Black, and was originally projected to gross around $40 million from 4,041 theaters in its opening weekend. After making $10.3 million on its first day (including $1.8 million from Thursday night previews), weekend estimates were lowered to $30 million. It went on to debut to $33.7 million, topping the box office. In its second weekend, the film made $16.8 million (a drop of -53%), finishing third behind newcomers Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga and The Garfield Movie. In France, the film made $3.3 million during its opening weekend in 621 cinemas.

Critical response
Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale, while those polled by PostTrak gave it an 84% overall positive score, with 64% saying they would definitely recommend it.

Adrian Horton of The Guardian awarded the film 3 out of 5 stars, writing that it "checks the boxes" on the elements of a family-friendly movie, but also noting that it does not "fully conjure the magic" of other films in the genre. Another mixed review was published on NPR by Bob Mondello, who wrote that "mostly the filmmakers detour, decorate and digitize their story rather than telling it, and that doesn't mesh well with the real-world stuff — dad's surgery, for instance, and Bea's wandering all over Brooklyn without her grandma seeming to notice. And yes, I know: IF is a kid-flick, but it still needs grounding. We're in Brooklyn, not Willy Wonkaland." RogerEbert.com reviewer Clint Worthington called the film "a well-intentioned misfire".

Tomris Laffly of Variety wrote that the movie was "in desperate need of some coherent world-building", while praising the performance of Cailey Fleming in the lead role. In a more negative review for The Hollywood Reporter, Frank Scheck criticised the film as "plagued by significant tonal shifts and pacing issues".

Noah Berlatsky of Chicago Reader was even more dismissive, stating, "IF makes you wish you were watching some other movie. (...) There's a fine line between the whimsical dream logic of Roald Dahl and irritating, incoherent nonsense. Director John Krasinski's new kids film IF is nowhere near that line. Despite the best efforts of the extremely talented child actor Cailey Fleming, IF makes no sense, narratively, emotionally, or visually." Several critics noted the film's sharing some similarities with the Cartoon Network animated series Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, which itself featured an orphanage that takes care of imaginary friends after their kids outgrow them and they leave after other children adopt them.