“This movie had me at Daniel Radcliffe. Normally I’d run away screaming before going to hide under some blankets in the closet when I’d see a trailer for a bubbly romantic movie like this, but Radcliffe put it on my must list. His name alone put it on the intrigued list, but his charisma, evident even in the trailer made it a must. The film was also drawing lots of comparisons with (500) Days of Summer, possibly the only film of its sappy genre that I absolutely adore.
Do the details of the plot even matter? He likes her. She’d seemingly be perfect for him. She’s got a boy already. They become really good friends. But he still really realy likes her. Oh dear, how could this possibly end? That didn’t matter. So how was I able to not only sit thru this, but enjoy it? The characters were such quirky fun. By now, you’ve heard of the concept of the manic pixie dream girl (basically Zooey Deschanel in …Summer). Zoe Kazan’s Chantry was very much that. But Radcliffe was sort of a manic pixie dream boy. He wasn’t just some flat generic boy pining away for the eccentric girl. He had his quirks too. Both were capable of spouding some really inappropriate and hilariously sarcastic dialog. There was some shoddy (but funny if you knew what to look for) redubbing that was obviously covering up what would have been R rated words. They said things worthy of Kevin Smith or Judd Apatow, at the most random moments.
I’m loving Daniel Radcliffe more and more with each film he does, most of which tend to be drastically different from the previous. He made a romantic film watchable. He can do comedy, and sell it well. Speaking of boys who can do comedy, points for Adam Driver who is rapidly becoming a fave, and one to watch. Sure, this may have been a variation of his Girls character, but seeing him do what he’s good at is never a bad thing. Zoe Kazan may have been recreating Ruby Sparks, but I think it worked out much better this time around. I at least enjoyed this one far more.
What If – \m/ \m/ \m/ \n