Imaginary, 2024.
Directed by Jeff Wadlow.
Starring DeWanda Wise, Tom Payne, Veronica Falcón, Betty Buckley, Taegen Burns, Pyper Braun, Dane DiLiegro, Alix Angelis, Cecilia Leal, and Matthew Sato.
SYNOPSIS:
A woman returns to her childhood home to discover that the imaginary friend she left behind is very real and unhappy that she abandoned him.
Imaginary comes across like a halfway decent story that another writer got a hold of and retooled into something much more stupid and reliant on typical modern mainstream horror clichés rather than the, well, imaginative ideas at the center of the narrative. Noticing on the credits that co-writer/director Jeff Wadlow collaborated with multiple screenwriters (Greg Erb and Jason Oremland) reinforces that gut feeling. Regardless, the biggest cinematic sin here is how much of a drag the experience is before even attempting to do something scary. Even when it does, there is only a halfhearted commitment that doesn’t elicit much reaction.
The story’s center involves some tumultuous family dynamics at the expense of siblings Taylor and Alice (Taegen Burns and Pyper Braun), who are not sold on their stepmom Jessica (DeWanda Wise) for forced reasons that never felt clear. Of course, it’s natural for teenagers and young children to push back against such change, but Imaginary wants that friction just for the story, briefly showing their biological mother as a woman still struggling with some unexplained substance abuse. The less said about their musician father, Max (Tom Payne), the better; he is so little of a character that his profession seems to have been a choice just to put him on tour and get him away from these characters 30 minutes into the movie.
As for Jessica, she is a successful writer and illustrator of children’s books, with the family moving back into her childhood home for, again, reasons that don’t entirely make sense. It’s a home filled with happy memories for her but also a place where serious trauma occurred involving her father. She has also conveniently forgotten a good chunk of what happened because, otherwise, there would be no movie. It’s just another embarrassment in this script. Nevertheless, the film desperately tries to say something about the sacrificial nature of parenting but never amounts to anything interesting despite a serviceable ensemble.
While the more angsty and defiant Taylor tries to hang out with an older neighboring boy who has no good intentions, Alice finds a stuffed bear in the basement that quickly becomes her imaginary friend and named Chauncey. The one bright spot here is that young Pyper Braun is actually quite convincing here at selling the friendship, especially when the scavenger hunt Chauncey puts her on increasingly becomes dangerous and cruel. However, the film maintains the obviousness that something is off about this imaginary friendship for too long; this is a 105-minute film that sometimes feels like it’s never going to end, especially during a finale that is stretched out to the point of exhaustion and no longer caring about anything happening.
Without diving too much into spoiler territory (especially since some of these third-act ideas could have made for a potentially solid horror film), the setting shifts into an imaginary spiritual realm haunted by a demonic entity. Unfortunately, Imaginary still chooses to spend its time on excessive side characters, mind-numbing betrayals, and over-explaining the situation when seeing and taking advantage of film as a visual medium would be far more compelling. Instead, some therapists show up and overstay their welcome, dropping terminology that feels hilariously fake and dumb even for a horror movie. Imagine the better movie that could have been.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com
