‘IF’ review: With imaginary friends like these, you don’t need enemies

nypost.com:

Running time: 104 minutes. Rated PG (thematic elements and mild language.) In theaters.John Krasinski has written, directed and stars in a new movie about imaginary friends.

And, I suspect, rammed into his own imagination are the films “Toy Story,” “Monsters, Inc.” and “The Sixth Sense.”Because he has put all of them in a blender with Ryan Reynolds and created “IF,” a schmaltzy family flick that makes less sense the more you think about it.“IF” is nice enough, sure.

Cloyingly so. But, just as in life, nice only gets you so far. A whole movie can’t hang on desperate “aww”s forcibly pried out of audience members mouths by talking inanimate objects.And yet.Should you be wondering what the two-letter title means, don’t worry — the CGI characters flat-out tell you. “Imaginary Friends, or IFs,” an Art Deco Minnie Mouse named Blossom (voiced by Phoebe Waller-Bridge) says to 12-year-old Bea (Cailey Fleming).

Adds fuzzy, bulbous Blue (Steve Carell): “Also, like, ‘What if?!’ Like anything’s possible!”A dead ringer for the Grimace, he’s not the wittiest of figments.Blossom and Blue are a pair of annoying IFs — and toy store merch just waiting to be sold — and Bea discovers she can mysteriously see and communicate with them.Bea’s mother died of cancer when she was little, which is shown in a sad (some might say manipulative) opening sequence reminiscent of Pixar’s “Up.” Adding to the anguish, her prankster dad (Krasinski) is now in the hospital to have surgery for a “broken heart.” Needless to say, all of this early trauma has made Bea grow up fast.