What If – Movie Review

What If – PG-13
Release Date: Fri 15 Aug 2014

“What If” is an adaptation of a play called “Toothpaste and Cigars” that was supposed to be titled “The F Word” with the tagline explaining the dirtiest word in romance is “friends.”

Daniel Radcliffe plays Wallace, a single guy in Toronto who meets Chantry (Zoe Kazan) at a party thrown by his friend who is also her cousin, Allan (Adam Driver.) The two hit it off an skip out early, ending up walking to Chantry’s door where she tells him that she’d like to talk with him again but that her boyfriend is probably wondering where she is by now. Wallace is interested in her, but also very gallant regarding not trying to break up her relationship with her absentee boyfriend Ben (Rafe Spall.)

This is, of course, one of the most common romantic plots around and goes to several predictable conclusions, but the charisma and earnestness of the leads make it feel genuine to their generation and circumstances. Chantry has to make up her mind as to whether to follow Ben, stay with Wallace or pursue a potentially lonely job assignment overseas.

As a date movie and romantic comedy, What If doesn’t bring much in the way of new spin on the love triangle premise but it does a fine job of executing and modernizing it while painting Toronto as an idyllic urban background refreshingly different from New York.

Hannah and I saw it in the theater had a discussion in the car: