John Krasinski and Paramount aren’t just bringing sound-seeking aliens to the theater this year. In May, the actor is directing (and writing) his first kiddie movie, the Ryan Reynolds-starring IF, which came to the Super Bowl with a new trailer on hand.
The upcoming film, cheekily introduced here by “Krasinski” himself—definitely not Randall Park—stars Cailey Fleming as Bea, a kid who realizes that she can see imaginary friends, a trait she also shares with her neighbor (Reynolds). As he explains it, there’s a whole secret world of imaginary friends (or IFs), ranging from talking marshmallows on fire to more conventional ones, like a bear (voiced by Lou Gossett Jr.) or Steve Carrell’s big, fluffy purple guy Blue. It eventually falls to the two humans to find new children for IFs, since their original creators have all gotten older and forgotten or abandoned them.
If you watched Cartoon Network in the 2000s, this is going to be very familiar and likely remind you of Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends. And like that show, this is probably going to hit hard with the younger crowd who probably haven’t seen much (or anything) focused on imaginary friends, and in quite this way. For the older crowd… who knows, movies like these live and die on the chemistry and humor. It’s got a sizable cast, which includes reliably funny people like Emily Blunt, Maya Rudolph, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, and Bobby Moynihan. It’s easy to imagine a movie with this premise and cast comes together fairly well, right?
We’ll know for sure when IF comes to theaters May 17.
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