What If, 2013
Directed by Michael Dowse
Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Zoe Kazan, Megan Park, Adam Driver, Mackenzie Davis and Rafe Spall
SYNOPSIS:
Wallace, who is burned out from a string of failed relationships, forms an instant bond with Chantry, who lives with her longtime boyfriend. Together, they puzzle out what it means if your best friend is also the love of your life.
What If is an explosion of quirky characters on screen spouting contrived, quirky dialogue in a quirky fashion while standing around quirky surroundings and quirky scenarios. It’s a quirk smoothie; mixtures of all the worst kinds of quirk with some of the less-irritable iterations of it. But for all of its quirkiness, What If is a rather bland experience – even if the two leads are sickeningly likeable.
Daniel Radcliffe (now free of the Harry Potter mantle) plays failed doctor Wallace, who is still heart-broken from his previous relationship one-year after it happened. Through a chance-meeting at a party, he strikes up a conversation with Chantry (Zoe Kazan) and the two form a friendship that is to be nothing more than mutual, due to the fact she has a loving boyfriend named Ben (Rafe Spall). But Wallace has deeper feelings for Chantry than he’s letting on, which could lead to trouble as he delves further into the rabbit hole of his feelings about love.
The biggest issue for What If is the horrible and forced quirky nature of the script. Elan Mastai, who wrote the script based off a play, has unfortunately fallen into the trap of writing contrived dialogue for all of the actors to read, thinking it will play off on screen as kooky and fun. What it sadly means is that everyone sounds the same and therefore they have no actual character. There is no difference between Chantry and Wallace, nor is there any difference between Chantry, Wallace, Ben, Allan, Nicole etc. It doesn’t help make the friendship bond between Wallace and Chantry any more special as it feels like Wallace could find love with anyone in this world and he’d have the same level of success because they would more than likely be the same as Chantry.
Thankfully, the high levels of quirk is handled well by the cast members with Kazan and Radcliffe giving each forced and contrived line their all. They both look to be very comfortable with each other which helps the audience empathise with them as a the couple that shouldn’t really be together, but somehow belong together. It would be fair to say that Kazan handles the script better than Radcliffe, who feels very stilted in his delivery at times. The movie was originally going to have Casey Affleck and Mary Elizabeth-Winstead but they were deemed to old to pull the characters off, the ultimate irony being that Kazan is a year older than Winstead in real-life. Adam Driver is wonderful as Wallace’s best friend Allan and he has a nice journey with the just-as-off-kilter Nicole (Mackenzie Davis) and the pair drive home some of the movie’s better lines.
But even with the good and likeable performances, What If is simply an average movie because it doesn’t try to be anything other than a quirky romantic comedy. It follows a simple tried and tested formula and never strays away from the genre conventions. Its simple and predictable structure may not be the worst aspect of What If, but it also means that you’re never surprised or intrigued as to where this relationship is heading. The movie title itself telegraphs its progression and the script and direction by Michael Dowse sign-posts where the story is heading with flashing red lights as if to pander to an easily-led crowd.
If you want to just sit back and watch a movie that starts at one point and walks an easy line to an acceptable and pleasing end point that doesn’t really show any signs of creativity, then What If is right up your street. It doesn’t challenge an audience nor does it look like it wants to. It’s just your average quirky romantic comedy that you’ll watch and enjoy but forget instantly the moment you leave the cinema. Nothing overly wrong with that of course.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Luke Owen is the Deputy Editor of Flickering Myth and the host of the Flickering Myth Podcast. You can follow him on Twitter @LukeWritesStuff.
Originally published August 15, 2014. Updated April 12, 2018.
