What If (released in most countries as The F Word) is a romantic comedy starring Daniel Radcliffe and Zoe Kazan. Radcliffe plays Wallace, a depressed med school student who recently got out of a serious relationship, and has an extremely negative opinion of romance. He meets Chantry (Kazan) and the two hit it off immediately, and become close friends, until Wallace learns that Chantry already has a very serious boyfriend, and he has been essentially “friend-zoned.”
What if tells a charming story of a young man who is completely unsure on his own beliefs on subjects such as friendship, life, and love.
I am one of Radcliffe’s surest critics, as I have not truly enjoyed a movie he has been in. I hated his performance in the Harry Potter films, he was in a horror film recently that I do NOT recommend and overall, and I think he is piggybacking off of his high expectations as a child actor in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Oh if only the people that casted that movie knew that only two of the trio would develop into truly talented actors). In my own opinion, Radcliffe struggles with showing any kind of real emotion, even simple ones like pain or fear are simply expressed with the same sharp breaths and wide eyes. The only emotion that I think he is legitimately capable of expressing is that of repressed emotion, such as when his character attempts to hide his anger, or summon up his courage.
Luckily, that was his main emotion throughout the entirety of this movie. Wallace faces situation after situation where the unfairness of life is shoved into his face, and all he can do is suck it up. In a lot of ways this character is more relatable to a college student than any other type of protagonist, because it is often the case in life where the best course of action to take is to simply put your head down and carry on.
Kazan co-starred as Chantry, a wide-eyed girl with a unique way of looking at the world. As soon as she appears the traits that made her so attractive to Wallace was clear. She was cute, nice, and intelligent, expressing herself mainly through a series of dry intelligent quips that would catch most people off guard. Wallace however fires right back, beginning the relationship that would become driving force of the movie. Dry humor is right up Radcliffe’s alley, and he and Kazan show a real chemistry that makes their scenes together both entertaining and endearing.
As I generally dislike Radcliffe’s performances in film, I was surprised to find out (and reluctant to admit) his performance was relatable and enjoyable. The movie as a whole took me in and got me involved in a way most romantic comedies fail to do, and the resolution of the cruel situation placed on this couple quickly became my only conscience hope.
Overall, while the dry humor and ill-handled situations (many situations could have been resolved by one quick comment by either party, but such is real life) may hurt some people’s opinions, I enjoyed those themes, and due to how invested I was in the plot, I didn’t realize how much I felt towards that movie until it was over, and I walked away completely satisfied. I highly recommend the movie to anybody, and it is well worth $1 from Redbox.
