Daniel Radcliffe has been doing his darndest to erase that scar-headed wizard from our memory. There was his nudity-laden stage role in Equus, his portrayal of Allen Ginsburg in Kill Your Darlings, and his physically gnarled turn in Martin McDonagh’s play The Cripple of Inishmaan. Now Radcliffe is trying on another role; that of a romantic lead. Surprisingly, it fits him like a glove; that Michael Dowse’s romantic comedy is a charmingly witty, sparky examination of friendship and love doesn’t hurt either.
Radcliffe and Zoe Kazan (Ruby Sparks) head up this consistently funny riff on the well-trodden tale of friends trying to ignore their romantic feelings for each other. It plays like When Harry Met Sally for the Girls generation; all self-aware banter and musings on the complex relationship between attraction, friendship and sex. Standard romantic tropes such as dramatic airport chases and irredeemably unlikeable boyfriends are given a realistic - and thus more emotionally complex - twist. Scattered between the whimsical animation and feel-good music are hard truths, such as the oft-ignored responsibility of attached people to maintain proper boundaries with “friends”; and the lies we tell ourselves to justify increasingly inappropriate attachments.
Radcliffe and Kazan share an irresistible chemistry, with Radcliffe bringing a likeable dry wit, and Kazan beautifully navigating the longing and guilt of being in a good relationship, but wanting someone else. Girls’ Adam Driver provides boisterous laughs as Radcliffe’s sexed-up best friend, on his own journey to discover that women who enjoy sex can also be marriage material.
Combining whipsnap dialogue, emotional intelligence and a refusal to let its characters off the hook, What If is a new, improved take on a tired recipe.