What If (The F-Word) (2013)
Director: Michael Dowse
Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Zoe Kazan, Adam Driver
Romantic comedy
98 minutes
Wallace (Daniel Radcliffe) and Chantry (Zoe Kazan) meet in a house party and instantly bond over Elvis trivia and quick banter. Wallace, a med school dropout whose motto since her ex-girlfriend cheated him with a professor has been “love is stupid”, finds himself falling for her but, unfortunately, Chantry is living together with Ben (Rafe Spall), her boyfriend of five years. He doesn’t want to be a jerk and break up a long-term relationship and ends up in the friend zone, soon becoming best friends with her. When Ben is offered a job abroad, Wallace gets a chance to make his move but will his ethics come in the way?
Lately, I’ve been cynical about romantic comedies and been more into films like Godzilla. So it is fair to say that I wasn’t exactly jumping up and down with excitement for this one. But… I ended up loving it! Even a cynic like me has to smile at this movie, even if just a little. First, the dialog, especially during the first half of the movie is absolutely hilarious. For the first fifteen minutes I sat my mouth open, trying to catch every word of it (there’s a lot of them). That being said, the subtitling is somewhat confusing and, if possible, I’d recommend focusing more on listening than reading the subtitles. The dialog does get lazier towards the end of the movie but it still stays refreshingly different.
Second, the cast is spot on. Daniel Radcliffe has moved on from that certain wizard boy and he is cute. We even get to see his naked butt in a nightly skinny dipping scene! I think I will have a crush on him from now on. It is delightful to see him this sharp but relaxed at the same time. This is his first rom-com but let us hope it is not his last. Zoe Kazan as Chantry is as quirky cute as the perfect animator hipster crush with a love for vintage dresses should be, with her pouting lips and wide eyes. The supporting acts are at least as funny as the main ones with Adam Driver’s hysterically funny portrayal of Wallace’s best friend Allan, although I do think that his character is almost too similar to his role in Girls. In any case, he makes an adorably wacky couple with Mackenzie Davis’ Nicole and it would be nice to see even more of them.
What If has some indie-vibes and, surely enough, it has been compared to (500) Days of Summer by many critics. Some might find scenes with an animated version of Chantry flying around town annoying but I think they were kind of cute. Although, it has to be said that they are a bit too whimsical compared to the script’s edgy sense of humor. The movie also has some exhilarating slapstick energy with scenes such as the one where Wallace accidentally knocks Ben out of a window. Otherwise most of the jokes are just crazy (but fun!) like Allan being overjoyed by post-sex nachos. It is also more than refreshing to see some other city than New York as a setting for a romantic comedy. What If is set in Toronto and its lovely folk-pop soundtrack backs up the setting well.
The only down-side of What if (originally titled The F-word with f as in “friends”) is its turn into a more traditional romantic comedy towards its end. The ending is, of course, totally predictable from the get-go and almost too sugary for my taste. With its almost too poignant wedding speech and rush to the airport scenes, the movie also, unfortunately, loses its sharpest edge. Nevertheless, the overall feeling of it is genuinely funny, sweet and fresh.