Why IF Feels So Unsatisfying as John Krasinski’s Follow-Up to A Quiet Place

While John Krasinski may always be best known for playing the role of Jim Halpert in NBC’s generation-defining sitcom The Office, he has also managed to make a name for himself behind the camera in recent years. His directorial debut came in 2009, in the form of the comedy Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, which was made up of a collection of short stories, though it wasn’t particularly well received.

While he made another directorial effort in 2016 with The Hollars, this movie once again failed to connect with critics and audiences. However, Krasinski’s fortunes changed in 2018, when he decided to change everything with his latest film.

A Quiet Place opened in the spring of 2018 and became an instant sensation. The post-apocalyptic horror movie imagines a world where humanity has been almost entirely eliminated by a mysterious race of predatory aliens. The catch is that these aliens do not use sight to move around and find their victims, instead relying exclusively on sound. The result of this premise was one of the most tense and anxiety-inducing horror flicks of the year. In the director’s chair, Krasinski also managed to inject a lot of heart and personality into the movie, as he centered the story on a single family living alone on a small acreage.

There is no denying the incredible success of A Quiet Place. On a budget of just $17 million, the movie managed to pull in about $340 million worldwide. It established Krasinski as the latest entry in the comedian-turned-horror-director canon, a club that was popularized the year prior with Jordan Peele and his film Get Out. A sequel to A Quiet Place was produced in fairly quick succession. While A Quiet Place Part II was originally set to open in March 2020, it was delayed to May 2021 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. When the film finally opened, it was able to recreate much of the same success as its predecessor.

Now, a few years later, Krasinski has returned, not with a third A Quiet Place film or anything similar, but with IF, a fantasy-comedy starring Ryan Reynolds in which a young girl gains the ability to see people’s imaginary friends. The movie may very well turn out to be a solid success at the summer box office, but it feels like a bit of a dissapointing left turn for Krasinski. Here’s why:

A Quiet Place Set a High Bar

When A Quiet Place opened in 2018, it was a transformational moment in Krasinski’s career. While he had ventured out of the comedy lane before, primarily through writing 2012’s Promised Land and serving as an executive producer on 2016’s Manchester by the Sea, A Quiet Place completely shifted how general audiences viewed the former Office star. Krasinski redefined his image in the eyes of millions, a feat that has proven nearly impossible for many other hit sitcom stars that have preceded him.

By quickly following up with A Quiet Place Part II, Krasinski doubled down on this new phase of his career. Even further, he proved that the first film wasn’t just a fluke. He really showed that he’s got the creative juice for this kind of atmospheric horror. He did that while also showing a real knack for working with actors, as he pulled outstanding performances out of everyone in the A Quiet Place films, ranging from Emily Blunt, Cillian Murphy and Djimon Hounsou to the child actors Noah Jupe and Millicent Simmonds.

With the incredible success of the A Quiet Place films, Krasinski had built an incredible amount of good will with both audiences and studios. Audiences felt they could firmly trust his directorial and creative abilities, while studios were more than pleased with the solid box office results he delivered.

That’s precisely why Krasinski following these movies with IF feels so strange. As the movie exists in a much more family-friendly and wholesome space, it almost feels as if the director is taking a step backward. While that’s not to say that family films cannot showcase filmmaking talent – there are clearly many that have – the trailers for IF aren’t instilling a lot of confidence, as the movie feels like the generic kind of kids movie that could have been directed by anybody. It has a lot more in common with films like Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile than it does Krasinski’s other recent work.

Related: Best John Krasinski Movies, Ranked

This Krasinski/Carell Reunion Isn’t the One Fans Were Hoping For

Another key reason why IF feels so unsatisfying as the next step in Krasinski’s career is because of the way it is being marketed. While the majority of the advertising for the movie has centered on the lead character played by Ryan Reynolds, who is doing the same quippy persona that he does in 90% of his films these days, a substantial portion has also been focused on the reunion between Krasinski and his Office co-star, Steve Carell. This reunion is another point in the column of Krasinski taking a step backward, as it is a sign of sticking within the confines of his Office history rather than stepping out of its shadows as he had before.

While we understand Krasinski’s desire to work with Carell again – obviously, work is a lot more fun when you’re doing it with friends – this reunion doesn’t really hold the weight that it should. If the director really wanted to re-team with Carell, it feels as if he should have committed more strongly to that idea, either through casting Carell in the lead instead of Reynolds or by producing a different movie that he potentially could have personally co-starred with Carell in.

Instead, Carell voices one of the main imaginary friends in IF. The result of this is that the Krasinski/Carell reunion that is being built up so much is one that isn’t even happening on-screen. Neither one of the actors is actually on-screen in IF – at least, not in the marketing.

Instead of seeing these two great actors sharing the screen together again, or at the very least having one of them on-screen with the other behind the camera, the extent of their reunion was in a recording booth. In order to actually appreciate and get any satisfaction out of this reunion, fans will have to watch behind-the-scenes footage about the making of IF, instead of, you know, actually watching IF.

Related: John Krasinski Was ‘Crying All Day’ Long Working with His Office Co-Star Steve Carell Again on IF

Releasing Only Weeks Before A Quiet Place: Day One

While all of this would inevitably have been part of the conversation whenever IF was released, it is only accentuated by it releasing this summer specifically. That’s because this summer also brings with it a new A Quiet Place movie, notably not directed by Krasinski. While the director does have a story credit on A Quiet Place: Day One, which is a prequel about the initial alien invasion in New York City, the film is largely crafted independently of Krasinski, as Michael Sarnoski has taken over directing and screenwriting duties.

With only six weeks between the release dates of IF and A Quiet Place: Day One, both films have trailers playing in cinemas simultaneously. Whether intentional or not, releasing both of these movies in such close proximity to one another invites this kind of conversation about Krasinski’s career. The trailers for A Quiet Place: Day One look very promising and are enticing many viewers to go back and revisit the first two films from Krasinski, just in time for the director’s movie about imaginary friends to release.

Now, this may all seem overly pessimistic about IF. The movie may very well be great, and it is clearly targeting a different audience than the A Quiet Place movies do. There’s nothing wrong with that. We hope that IF is a solid family movie that has great success at the box office. That would be a win for everyone, as it would give kids another great movie to love and deliver theaters some much-needed business.

However, we can’t help but lament Krasinski’s decision to produce this movie now, immediately following A Quiet Place. It just feels like wasted potential to some degree. Krasinski clearly can deliver excellent movies, and we just wish he was aiming a little higher than he appears to be with his latest feature.