“Deadpool & Wolverine” - To say or not to say.

At the end of my Fall Guy review, I wrote “While there is still a load of movies left to see this year, I have a hard time believing any will be as entertaining as The Fall Guy (yes, I’m well aware Deadpool 3 is one of them).” To which Deadpool & Wolverine said “Let’s fucking go.” Literally, they both say that exact line in the movie. While Fall Guy is indeed an exceptionally entertaining movie, Deadpool & Wolverine absolutely wipes its dick(s) with it. What, too crude? What movie did you think you were going to read about? If that language is too much for you, you really, really shouldn’t see this film.

Obviously, I loved Deadpool & Wolverine. And I mean every single second of it. But that also presents a problem for me. Even for movies I gush over, I find plenty to write about without spoiling things. This time, there were so many times I gasped that I almost passed out from too much oxygen. But, that’s partly because I refused to watch any trailers, read any interviews, or even look up the cast. I’ve done all those things now that I’ve seen the film, so I at least can rest easy knowing certain elements have been public for a while. Here are few questions I can answer without ruining the myriad surprises.

This being the third Deadpool movie and an official MCU film, do I need to rewatch any Deadpool or MCU movies or series before watching Deadpool & Wolverine?

No, unless you have the memory of the guy in Memento. All you need is a vague understanding of the Time Variance Authority (TVA) from Loki and multiverse and that Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) and Deadpool’s (Ryan Reynolds) superpower is they heal to the point of being practically immortal.

Are you sure? The plots of MCU movies have gotten really convoluted lately.

Yes, I’m sure. Deadpool is trying to save his friends and timeline from being pruned out of existence by a TVA administrator called Mr. Paradox (Matthew Macfadyen).

That is simple. How does Wolverine fit in this picture?

All I will say is this is the first good surprise of the movie - masterful writing to make use of the multiverse. I will also say it’s tied to the previous X-men movies, which is obvious since Jackman is reprising the role of Wolverine. But I promise you don’t need to have seen any of the X-Men movies. This film provides the explainer.

Is Mr. Paradox the villain?

Yes, but not the only main villain. And the other one is deliciously portrayed by Emma Corrin.

You’re not even going to tell me Corrin’s character’s name?

Nope.

Is there a really fun opening title sequence?

Naturally. And it’s as funny and unique as the last two films’ openings.

Does it look like the actors are enjoying themselves?

Immensely. And not just Reynolds, Jackman, and Corrin, but every actor, even the ones that don’t have lines. Jackman, especially, looks like he is having the time of his life, delivering a Wolverine that cusses, kills, and banters every bit as good as Deadpool/Reynolds. The two of them together like this is easily as satisfying as Reynolds delivering a true Deadpool two movies ago.

I heard rumors that Taylor Swift, Blake Lively, Rob McElhenney, and dozens of other notables might be in the film. Any truth to those?

Ah, ah, ah. Some true, some false. I’m not even going to comment on the ones that were publicly confirmed. The only thing I will say is some are similar to what was done in Spider-Man: No Way Home. Others are from past projects that never made it through production.

I thought you said I wouldn’t have to do any homework before watching this movie.

You don’t. The references explain themselves. Plus, multiverse.

Is the movie as “blue” as the previous two, now that Disney owns the rights?

Yes, it’s still rated-R, and very “blue.” There are no sex scenes, but blood flies in buckets, almost as much as the word fuck. And the sexual jokes are varied, plentiful, and hilarious.

Do the fourth wall breaks still play well?

Do they ever. And nobody is safe from the Merc with the Mouth. Like John Oliver does to AT&T on Last Week Tonight, Deadpool slams Disney and Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige on more than one occasion. Multiple times, I was almost in tears I was laughing so hard.

Sounds like the movie is worth the watch. Where do you rank it in the franchise?

It might be the best of the three Deadpool movies and I realize what I’m saying. One critic at my screening said it was top five in the entire MCU.

Let’s fucking go!

I know.

(Rating) It goes without saying that I shouldn’t ask for any money back after watching it. But, should I see it in IMAX?

Abso-fucking-lutely and more than twice.

“IF” - Imagine that.

I never had an imaginary friend (IF) as a kid. That’s probably because I watched enough scary movies when I was young that an imaginary friend was too big of a risk. Just think about how creepy Danny Torrence’s imaginary friend Tony was in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. *shudders* Many kids’ imaginary friends were dolls, toys, or stuffed animals, but do you remember that stuffed clown in Poltergeist? *shudders x 10*

IF isn’t the horror movie about imaginary friends ripped from the nightmares I had as a kid. IF is a sweet family movie about a twelve-year-old girl, Bea (Cailey Fleming), leaning on imaginary friends to...cope with her dad’s (John Krasinski) impending heart surgery while also still coping with the death of her mom from cancer. I mean, I never had that nightmare.

While Bea’s father is in the hospital waiting for surgery, Bea is staying at her grandmother’s (Fiona Shaw) apartment. While walking home one night, Bea spots a strange creature entering the building. She tries to follow it, but it evades her. The next night, she spots the creature again, this time walking down the road with a man. Bea follows them, observes the man helping a large purple creature exit a building through a window, then faints.

Turns out that man is Bea’s upstairs neighbor, Cal (Ryan Reynolds). Cal has been working to place abandoned imaginary friends with new children (their original children have forgotten them) but has failed so far. Bea decides to help Cal, so Cal takes Bea to an IF retirement community beneath Coney Island where she meets a plethora of imaginary friends ranging from an anthropomorphic flaming marshmallow to a giant cat wearing an octopus costume to an old teddy bear named Lewis. I’ll let you decide which part of that sounds the scariest.

Unfortunately, Bea has no more success than Cal in placing any of the abandoned Ifs. Flummoxed, Lewis suggests trying to reunite them with their original kids. This is where the movie makes it clear that this is about Bea coming to terms with her own life. Your enjoyment of the rest of the film will depend on how cynical you are.

If you’re a fan of my reviews, you know that I am just a wee bit cynical. Well, I enjoyed this movie. Quite a lot, in fact. I may have even shed a tear or two. But, I’d be lying if I didn’t say something was a bit off with the surface plot surrounding the IFs. The problem is that the rules around the IFs’ existence contradict themselves. And the effort to potentially place IFs with new kids doesn’t make sense - the logic falls apart really easily. If every IF is unique to their original person, then how can they be attached to (and even be seen by) anyone else anyway?

I could go on, but like I said, I enjoyed this movie. So, I decided to interpret all of the IF stuff as Bea’s coping mechanism with her parents. A distraction to take her mind off of the possibility she could be an orphan soon. The parallels were not subtle and had the movie not gone out of its way to blatantly state that the IFs all weren’t just Bea’s imagination, I never would have remembered my cynical IF and let him write this review.

But as PG movies go, IF is one of the better ones. Written and directed by Krasinski, he does a really good job of tackling a real-life trauma that many kids experience and putting it into a way kids can relate to. He’s telling kids and adults it’s okay to feel lonely and it’s okay to confide in someone, even if that someone is a six-foot talking gummy bear. Or Ryan Reynolds. Like Krasinski’s pandemic era YouTube show SomeGoodNews, IF is another thoughtful project by Krasinski to help us all remember the positive things in life. Even if the positive things sometimes take the forms of some of our nightmares.

Rating: Ask for three dollars back and watch out for Keith.