Common Sense Media Review
By Barbara Shulgasser-Parker
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Dull romance between unsuited people; violence, language.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 14+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Watch
Videos and Photos
What If?
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's the Story?
Billie (Alessandra De Rossi) is hired as a keyboardist to accompany newly successful singer Jecs (JM De Guzman) as he records a new album. WHAT IF? jumps around in time, starting at what seems to be the end of their relationship. It gives away nothing crucial to divulge that the film opens as Billie is leaving Jecs on their honeymoon, hopping a boat ride from a remote island. Through many out-of-sequence scenes, it's revealed that her father was and remains hateful and that he physically abused her when she was young. We also learn that Jecs' mother is nagging and insensitive, that Billie may be infertile, and that neither of the pair is mature enough to cope with even the slightest bit of adversity. The manufactured conflict that wouldn't bother most people throws each of them for a loop and upends the love they only recently had sworn was "for better or for worse."
Is It Any Good?
What If? is a dreary, forgettable romance about two people whose new marriage is crumbling for no reason that makes sense. Because the story is unnecessarily told out of sequence, it's hard to tell how long they'd known each other before the wedding, but surely at some point before marrying they'd thoroughly discussed the issue of having children. So why does it come as a surprise to learn Billie doesn't want any, something she only discloses as their honeymoon in the middle of nowhere deteriorates?
The less rational they become, and the less sense their conflict makes, the less the audience can relate to or empathize with these two childish people. It's the filmmakers' main job to make us care whether or not they stay together, but we simply don't. As for the title's unfinished question, the movie leaves a bigger one at the end of the story: What if ... what??
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about how a person damaged in childhood by a destructive parent may never recover and may not make a great marital partner. How does Billie hold what her father did to her against Jecs?
Do you think Billie didn't want to have children because of how she was treated by her father when she was a child? Why didn't that occur to Jecs?
Why does Jecs fail to tell his meddling mother to back off when it comes to overstepping boundaries with his new wife? What should he have said to his mother?
Movie Details
- On DVD or streaming : September 7, 2023
- Cast : Alessandra de Rossi , JM De Guzman
- Director : Manny Palo
- Inclusion Information : Female Movie Actor(s) , Asian Movie Actor(s)
- Studio : Netflix
- Genre : Romance
- Run time : 112 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- Last updated : September 18, 2023
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