Film: What If

starring Daniel Radcliffe and Zoe Kazan...and Adam Driver.
rated PG-13 for like minimum nudity

Ok so What If came out in 2013 but I am just catching up on all the torrents I missed. Plus I saw a clip of it and I wasn't impressed but decided to give it a second chance after seeing it on Buzzfeed because Buzzfeed is always right. (it's not. On that list was also Starred Up which I hated, and I keep talking about it because Buzzfeed being wrong about their Best Movies of 2014 broke my heart. Especially because I forced everyone I was with to watch it with me. So really, my reputation is ruined.

Anyway.)

Wallace (Radcliffe) and Chantry (Kazan) meet at a party thrown by Chantry's cousin Adam (Adam Driver). They immediately connect, but she already has a boyfriend (which she forgets to mention until she is giving him her number. How wonderful). Of course he falls in love with her. What happens next?

I really liked this movie for a few reasons which I will now detail:
All the characters are pretty likeable, even Chantry's boyfriend, which is usually the easiest way to justify a breakup so that the main character can get the girl, and very lazy. Harry Potter - erm, Radcliffe, has been showing that he can act as more than an adolescent, which is great to watch, especially when he keeps the accent. I liked Chantry. She wasn't weak and waiting for a hero (hashtag Ms Penn in The Princess Bride, which they feature, TWELVE FREAKIN STARS FOR THAT. I hear she's better in House of Cards?). Adam Driver, who I hated in Girls, I am now getting more and more into. I really didn't like him in Girls. But now, particularly after This is where I leave you with Jason Bateman and Tina Fey (so funny. So good. Bateman in something other than his usual confused Arresed Development guy role. Nicely done.), he is growing on me. I have a sneaking suspicion he plays an Adam in everything. Is it just me? And I have a sneaking suspicion that he's actually like that in real life (much like Adam Brody. Hey. He'S CALLED ADAM TOO!! IS IT A THING???). I liked his girlfriend whose name I can't remember too.

Important relationshipy questions are asked all through the movie, which is great for me because I am a little obsessed with relationshipy things at the moment. Like, no, SERIOUSLY, if you're offered a promotion in a whole new country, will you go? And should your significant other follow? And what happens? And, of course, the age old question of can guys and gals just be friends. (yes.)

I loved the script. Straightforward bantery Gilmore Girlsy. Which I love. Which That Awkward Moment (with Zac Efron - slurp) tried to do and failed dismally. That awkward moment. Elan Mastai wrote and produced it. It was so funny in so many places and now I secretly want to date a Wallace. Good old fashioned banter but also a few good old fashioned flat out stunts (slipping on banana peel humour). Still funny.

Watch it maybe not on a night when you don't have someone to cuddle with.

tSN

p.s. Adam Driver's name in this is Allan. Close enough, methinks.