What’s this? What If
What if what? No What If. It’s the new film featuring Daniel ‘Harry Potter’ Radcliffe, Adam ‘Girls’ Driver and Zoe Kazan who you might recognise from such films as 2012’s Ruby Sparks. What If came out in America as The F Word but changed it’s name over here for some reason that we don't reall understand. Manybe they didn't want to compete with Gordon Ramsay?
What’s it about? Well Wallace (Daniel Radcliffe) a medical school dropout, is a British boy living in Toronto who’s terribly sad about his love life. He lives with his sister Jemima Rooper who you might remember from the very excellent mid-nougties show As If. Wallace meets Chantry (the names in this film are a little bit silly) at a party. Chantry has a boyfrined but Wallace really, really likes her and so agrees to be her friend all the while being secretly in love with her.
**Oh no, that’s sad. **Isn’t it? It doesn’t help that Adam Driver’s character (Chantry’s cousin and Wallace’s best friend) falls madly in love with brand new girl crush MacKenzie Davis and the two spend their time engaging in super intense PDA in front of Wallace like always.
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Poor Wallace. Yeah, although it’s hard to feel sorry for someone with that name. Another thing to mention though is that Zoe’s an animator and her whimsical pictures quite often come to life and flit across the screen, which is a nice touch most of the time, but also can be a little bit cloying at times.
What are people saying about it? Er, it's a mixed bag. The Guardian hated it more than life itself, 'It's liable to leave you queasy.' But we're a little confused by that review, preferring instead to side with Varietywho said, 'Roughly three parts charming to one part cloying, “The F Word” attempts and largely succeeds at pulling off a smart, self-aware riff on romantic-comedy conventions while maintaining a core of earnest feeling.'
And what are we saying? Do you know what? It’s a darn sight better than the film world's last attempt at hipster-esque rom com. That Awkward Moment we’re looking at you. This one’s smart, funny and really rather adorable. Sure it’s a bit twee-tastic in places; Dawson’s Creek-esque vocabulary and Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes on the soundtrack but overall there's a very good chance you'll enjoy it muchly. Just maybe don't go with a boy/your more cynical friends.
Competiton:
To celebrate the release of What If, we are giving you the chance to win a £100 Ticketmaster voucher! All you need to do is post a picture of you and your friends in a 'good friends, bad idea' situation to twitter or instagram! Don't forget to tag your friends and use #WhatIf #GoodFriendBadIdea when you enter!
**Prize: **1 x £100 Ticketmaster Voucher
T&C's
What If is released in UK cinemas 20th August 2014
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Picture: Rory DCS
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.