What If

In the highly imperfect world of contemporary romantic comedies, What If is as close to perfect as anything we've got, not least for the way it captures the abject hopefulness of young people who'd like to be in love but don't know how to go about it.

What If boasts a couple of near-classic comic moments, one involving jalapeno peppers and a precipitous fall.

Hitting all the rom-com notes with wit and some charm, it'll be a crowd-pleaser.

It tries to have some bite to its will-they-or-won't-they scenario but ultimately winds up toothless.

Occasional animated inserts inspired by Chantry’s work as an illustrator, while accomplished, inject an off-note of whimsy that doesn’t quite square with the script’s stabs at edgier humor.

No one ever stops talking. Twenty-somethings talk incessant small talk, or cute talk, or fatuous talk that's supposed to be clever.

What If is a case of the cutes the way the Black Death was a case of infectious disease. The movie is saturated with cute, teeming with cute, rancid with cute. I’d endured all a man could fairly be expected to take when I glanced at my watch and realized there were still 95 minutes to go.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

To me, it started as a date movie, and then ended up being entirely different, something more. What If Dowse does not seem like a complete fanatic for the mushy gushy romance that Hollywood is infamous and criticized for. He doesn't particularly love the idea of a rainy Saturday evening with warm coffee in bed and Meg Ryan on TV. And maybe that's why, that's the only reason why this film works. I am going to skip way ahead now and give you an example of a scene that basically comes at the end of the film. No spoilers, but there is a scenario in the film where even someone "outsider" as the director Michael Dowse from this world, has to drop all his guards and give in to that ultimate date movie scene. And even though he tries with incredible slow camera work and other parlor tricks, he fails to conjure the audience as any other Hugh Grant film would and does. Danielle Radcliff as Wallace and Zoe Kazan as Chantry are the only ones driving the scene to home for us. Another reason why the film succeeds is the safe and secure fall of the film, after Dowse pushes it away from being starry eyed. And this push lands on a pillow whose origin is from that very awkward feeling of running away and bumping into crass slapstick humor. And holding that side of the line is Adam Driver and Mackenzie Davis as a raunchy couple outdoing themselves in each scenario leading our lead couple into trouble- that silence in the car is the highlight of the film. They are the textbook supporting cast of the romcom genre, their goofiness sculpts into a deep prosperous enlightening theme. What If is the most spookiest name I have ever heard of a film especially considering the fact that, to this day, I don't get the title, at all.

This movie captures a bit of the hopeful/angsty/goofy attitude typical of a lot of millennials I know. If you're in tune with that and don't expect anything profound, you might enjoy the little dramas of coupling and uncoupling and some winsome performances.

I don't know the process behind this but some shows recently just losed their sense of reality and what if is definitely one of them. I mean how can these scripts even pass through whoever the management are. except for maybe 2 episodes, the whole season is uncomfortable to watch with this much **** writing. maybe this is happening because disney is giving a chance to every excited young talent but nah man this is just so bad, hire even me and I can deliver something still better than this. maybe this could be explained by both writers and the audience disconnecting from reality, in that case, poor us.

This movie is not good... It's not interesting and has no good qualities to it. Aside from a few chuckles there is nothing here. A joke that ran throughout the whole movie that I guess was supposed to be funny was not. The plot is entirely predictable from start to finish. You don't feel for the characters like you should in this type of movie. All characters are shallow and have nothing to them. The banter between the two main leads gets tiring after the first 5 minutes and you just want it to end. I was sitting in the theater wondering why I was there. It has nothing to differ itself from other average romantic comedies. This movie has so many cliches it is unbearable. Avoid this.