What If review: Daniel Radcliffe and Zoe Kazan can't save this boring rom-com

When a romantic comedy panders unabashedly to its core audience, like About Time did, it’s fine. When it actually transcends the genre’s trappings and becomes much more than what it is supposed to be, it’s great. Case in point: 500 Days of Summer. But when the rom-com and everyone associated with it thinks it is cleverer than it is even though it is nothing more than hollow fluff, it’s just frustrating.

Such is the predicament of What If.

The talent attached to What If is huge – it’s got Daniel Radcliffe as a grown up, burned out by a string of bad relationships. Zoe Kazan, of the masterful Ruby Sparks, is the girl to his boy. The film has been directed by Michael Dowse, who made the terrific Goon and It’s All Gone Pete Tong. None of those three names live up to their potential thanks to the achingly clichéd and predictable script by Elan Mastai.

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The story ticks off all the checkboxes to fit the ‘quirky’ indie rom-com category. Boy is a cynical but good natured bloke who’s just out of a serious relationship because his ex-significant other broke his heart. Girl is seemingly in a perfect relationship, but she thinks it’s tearing apart at the seams. Boy makes seemingly intelligent remarks about love and relationships because he’s been in a string of failures. Girl is confused because her significant other moves to another country but still wants to be in a relationship. Boy and Girl become friends and like each other but don’t know whether it’s a good idea to be more than friends. The respective friends from both sides show up on screen to offer advice. There’s some weeping and travelling around the Western world. Finally, Boy takes a flight to ‘get the girl’.

Will they end up together? Will they find the courage to be more than quirky? You can guess what happens in the end.

The clichés would have been fine had the characters been the least bit likable. Radcliffe and Kazan have decent chemistry and they manage a couple of fun exchanges, but not for a second does one care whether they end up together or not.

Harry Potter fans who have grown up with Radcliffe will like him in this film because he’s not just a good actor but has also shed his Potter persona finally. He already proved a thing or two in The Woman in Black and he’s here to stay for the long run. Zoe Kazan replays her role from Ruby Sparks and has little opportunity to explore any new territory. Unless you’re easily impressed by the slightest display of bittersweet romance on screen, you’ll be disappointed by the simplistic execution and wannabe style of What If.

Kazan and Radcliffe’s characters are shallow, vaguely selfish and at some points even unethical. For instance, Boy complains about his ex-girlfriend cheating on him and how his parents broke up because of infidelity just as he goes ahead and falls for a girl who is decidedly not single.

It also doesn’t help that the Girl contemplates hooking up with Boy despite him being a loser and her existing boyfriend being a successful and nice guy. It really becomes hard to root for the two of them to get together. As a result, the sugar frosted ending becomes all the more unbearable.

What If could have been great if the film had explored the ironies in the scenes it sets up, Matsai’s script doesn’t. Instead, it plays out like any other rom-com.