IF

May 31 – June 2

7 pm nightly
1:30 Saturday & Sunday Matinées
2024 – Family / Comedy
G — 1h 45m

John Krasinski’s heartwarming, creative film will make you miss your imaginary friends. IF centers on Bea (Cailey Fleming), a rather serious 12-year-old who insists she isn’t a child anymore, largely because her mother died of cancer when she was younger, and now her father (Krasinski) is facing his own medical problems. Though her dad enthusiastically encourages her to go out and find her own story, rather than spend all her time worrying about him, the message doesn’t really sink in until Bea runs into butterfly ballerina Blossom (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) and lovable purple fuzzball Blue (Steve Carell), and she learns she can see imaginary friends.

The film’s title thus doesn’t only insinuate the “what ifs” of life (as one character all too superfluously explains), but is also short for “Imaginary Friend.” You know them: Little Danny in The Shining had one named Tony. And homesick Riley in Inside Out had one named Bing Bong. According to the universe of “IF,” which asks you to abandon all your real-world conventional wisdom, almost every single child has an IF that they’ve created as a companion or coping mechanism in the face of anxieties they aren’t mature enough to navigate.

A charming, wistful story of imaginary friends, IF has a classical look and feel to its visuals, an old-school and big-hearted quality sorely missed in cinema aimed at younger viewers these days. Everything from the magical lens of frequent Steven Spielberg DP Janusz Kamiński to Jess Gonchor’s opulent production design and Michael Giacchino’s disarmingly melancholic score, and the most star-studded ensemble cast of the year, with the IFs voiced by the likes of by the likes of Louis Gossett Jr., Matt Damon, Maya Rudolph, Emily Blunt, Bradley Cooper, Jon Stewart, Sam Rockwell, Awkwafina, George Clooney and more.