{"id":22907,"date":"2024-05-16T09:16:54","date_gmt":"2024-05-16T16:16:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/?p=22907"},"modified":"2024-05-23T11:09:45","modified_gmt":"2024-05-23T18:09:45","slug":"if-movie-read-what-critics-are-saying","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/if-movie-read-what-critics-are-saying\/","title":{"rendered":"IF Hits Theaters This Weekend: Read What Critics Are Saying"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The John Krasinski-directed family fantasy-adventure movie <em><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.atomtickets.com\/movies\/if\/335209\">IF<\/a><\/strong><\/em> hits theaters this weekend, and the story of imaginary friends and rediscovering one&#8217;s wonder is great for all ages. Starring Ryan Reynolds as Cal, a man who can see people&#8217;s imaginary friends and discovers his young neighbor, Bea (Cailey Fleming), can also see them too, the pair embark on an adventure to unite the imaginary friends &#8211; called IFs &#8211; with new kids. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"IF | Final\u00a0Trailer\u00a0(2024 Movie) - Ryan Reynolds, John Krasinski, Steve Carell\" width=\"1080\" height=\"608\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/mb2187ZQtBE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The story is full of whimsy and wonder, and with a PG rating, it&#8217;s suitable for just about any age. Read on to find out what critics are saying about <em>IF<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/2024\/05\/15\/arts\/john-krasinskis-kids-flick-follows-12-year-old-girl-an-imaginative-adventure-around-new-york-city\/\">Boston Globe<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>\u201cIF\u201d is nonetheless an enjoyable watch, and a surprisingly gentle one, despite its bumbling cast of fiends, rascals, and other overlooked creatures. The life lesson it ends on is a familiar one, and the dialogue between Bea and other real-world characters tends toward the obvious. But among the IFs the movie slants toward something fresher \u2014 if not absolute originality, then at least a dash of imagination.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/moviemom.com\/if\/\">Movie Mom<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>The title \u201cIF\u201d mostly stands for \u201cInvisible Friend,\u201d but also a little bit stands for the word we use to conjure up infinite possibilities. The world Krasinski has conjured up here is beguiling, with a handmade, retro feel. The Paramount logo at the beginning looks like a child\u2019s finger-painting and the movie itself is a smudgy valentine, all heart, whimsy, and charm. If the message is a bit messy and the logic not quite sound, for me that was more than made up for by the tenderness.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/movieweb.com\/if-movie-review\/\">MovieWeb<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p><em>IF<\/em>, short for imaginary friends,\u00a0tugs mightily on your heartstrings. John Krasinksi, who pulls quadruple duty as writer, director, producer, and co-star, wants to squeeze your eyeballs for\u00a0buckets of tears. He accomplishes that goal but, thankfully,\u00a0gets an equal number of big laughs\u00a0in a wonderful second act. There are a few narrative bumps.<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>A huge reveal is evident from the start. It&#8217;s another case of waiting for a film to deliver something the audience is keenly aware of. That&#8217;s not a deal-breaker with stunning visual effects and engaging lead performances.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/film\/article\/2024\/may\/15\/if-review-john-krasinski\">The Guardian<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>For a film that very much bills itself as a comedy, particularly through the lovable and literally bumbling character of Blue, If is fairly short on actual laughs. Instead, it settles by the end into misty-eyed, mostly earned sweetness, with the evergreen lesson of remembering love and playfulness as you grow up. Bells and whistles and imaginary friends aside, it\u2019s that message of the inner child that\u2019s ultimately essential \u2013 and If channels just enough of it for this viewer to, at least for a few moments, remember hers.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/comicbook.com\/movies\/news\/if-review-john-krasinski-movie-reaction-steve-carell\/\">ComicBook<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>What the movie lacks in clarity, it makes up for in heart. The good news? Your kids probably won&#8217;t notice the flaws and you&#8217;ll be too busy shedding a tear to start poking holes in the plot. The film does a good job of reminding its audience that there&#8217;s a kid in all of us, and that time can never truly take away your imagination. It&#8217;s been a while since I looked around in a theater and saw multiple grown men shedding a tear. Krasinski knows how to appeal to parents, especially dads.\u00a0<\/p><p>While\u00a0<em>IF\u00a0<\/em>may not be a perfectly pieced-together movie, there&#8217;s enough heart embedded in its core to make it a worthy trip to the cinema for families. The cast is delightful, the IFs are magical, and the warmth is undeniable. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Overall, while <em>IF<\/em> may not have the simplest plot and is sometimes prone to schmaltz, the heartfelt whimsy and childlike wonder more than make up for any of its flaws.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.atomtickets.com\/movies\/if\/335209\">Get tickets to <em>IF<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The John Krasinski-directed family fantasy-adventure movie IF hits theaters this weekend, and the story of imaginary friends and rediscovering one&#8217;s wonder is great for all ages. Starring Ryan Reynolds as Cal, a man who can see people&#8217;s imaginary friends and discovers his young neighbor, Bea (Cailey Fleming), can also see them too, the pair embark [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":22908,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[40,37],"class_list":["post-22907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editorial","tag-featuredpage","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22907"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22907\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22914,"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22907\/revisions\/22914"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}