So today I watched the 2013 film 'What If' starring Daniel Radcliffe and Zoe Kazan and I have to say overall, I absolutely loved the film and there were many things I adored though equally, some things less so. Before I get started into what I thought, here's the synopsis from the IMDb page :)'Wallace, who is burned out from a string of failed relationships, forms an instant bond with Chantry, who lives with her longtime boyfriend. Together, they puzzle out what it means if your best friend is also the love of your life.'
For me, I instantly fell in love with their chemistry and their relationship, their frankness and the way that they interacted as two people and also the other characters and the layers that they formed around them. I also loved the way that it wasn't necessarily an outright comedy because the most comedic moments were also quite inherently serious in the way that they could also represent something deeper or were intrinsically bad.
For example, one of the first that comes to mind is when Wallace (the main character) tries to help Chantry (the girl he's in love with)'s boyfriend when he gets jalapeno in his eye. What ends up happening is that in opening the door from the bathroom, Wallace manages to push Ben (the boyfriend) out of the window which Wallace then accidentally follows by his phone. This is incredible because Ben ends up alright but you end up so afraid for everyone and for the chances of Wallace and Chantry's friendship after that that it's a gripping film as well as anything else.
Having said that, there are some wonderful moments of comedy and I would still thoroughly recommend this film in spite of the more tense moments that you might not expect though for me, this might be because of my lack of experience in rom-coms and their workings. For me though, the analytics between Wallace and his room mate Allan as to which option Wallace should follow in his pursuit of Chantry clearly demonstrate how we as a society classically judge and one of my most treasured moments is when Allan says 'You should tell her with 100% honesty, exactly how you feel, like a real man.' to which Wallace replies 'Isn't that the opposite of what a real man would do? A real man is supposed to hide his feelings etc.' and this discussion of what society would say and judge is so stimulating in a film which could be a giant cliche. This discussion also helps to fuel other boundaries and views and I think the grey and the opinions really make it very interesting to watch as well as how the relationships vary and work through different people and their personalities.
The only part I didn't feel really worked was perhaps just the way of the film. The film itself didn't always feel like the scenes were organic, not necessarily how you'd picture something turning out but that's the beauty of film I guess and as a film, I loved it to pieces. It just felt like there were some moments that were clearly very orchestrated to serve the purpose of showing certain sentiments or to make something happen that might not necessarily have happened in real life, though that is very clearly probably a matter of my opinion!
Anyways, I would definitely recommend the film on the basis of the film and what you can take from it as a story and the beauty of the moments that are created and the relationship that blossoms.
I hope that you guys enjoyed this post and that you have a wonderful day and that I can hopefully speak to you soon! God Bless!<2
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