Based on Toothpaste and Cigars by T.J. Dawe and Michael Rinaldi, The F Word is a romantic comedy directed by Michael Dowse and stars Daniel Radcliffe, Zoe Kazan, Megan Park & Adam Driver.

Plot: Wallace, who is burned out from a string of failed relationships, forms an instant bond with Chantry, who lives with her longtime boyfriend. Together, they puzzle out what it means if your best friend is also the love of your life.

Review: What If is playing the typical romantic comedy formula, running its characters in every cliché of the genre (male-female friendship with sexual tension, flying oversee to get the girl, boyfriend punches the other dude) but the movie has more to offer.

The tone of the movie is one of the things that makes the difference, it’s really quirky and almost uncomfortable at times, making the dialogue interesting and fresh. Chantry (Zoe Karzan), and Wallace (Daniel Radcliffe) & their friends have funny moments and speak like regular twenty-something friends would. Adam Driver & Mackenzie Davis are scene stealers that’s how good of a fit they are. The film is dialogue driven and it’s good dialogue. There’s a whole feces theme throughout the movie but it’s not weird or disgusting, mind you, I’m probably thinking that because I still have poop conversations with my own friends.

Chantry has a boyfriend, you know it, if you’ve seen the trailer or read the premise, it’s the obstacle they have to overcome and the refreshing thing about it was that they didn’t turn it into a full-blown love triangle. It’s all about how they met, their “friendship”, it’s all about Chantry and Wallace. Ben (Rafe Spall) – the boyfriend – is almost part of the backdrop of the story, he’s there just enough to remind us that there’s an obstacle. The Ben-Chantry relationship is what I’d expect in a 5 years relationship. The end of the Chantry – Ben relationship was not the cop-out ending he/she cheated, it’s real-life end-of-the-relationship stuff, it was done swiftly and tastefully.

Toronto was a real surprise and is probably one of the things that helped the movie not fall completely in the romantic-comedy clichés. The F Word is a more realistic version of romantic comedy, it’s quirky and funny. 

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