What if... (2010)

Instant Favorite.

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Ben Walker (Kevin Sorbo) isn't looking for a second chance. He thinks he did alright the first time around. He's wealthy, the boy wonder of a powerful corporation, and has a gorgeous fiancé' who adores him (or at least his bank account). So when a scruffy old guy called Mike who claims to be an angel (John Ratzenberger) comes along and offers Ben a second chance, Ben turns him down cold. Turns out that Ben doesn't really have a choice… …and when he comes to, Ben finds himself back in the small town he worked so hard to escape, married to his old girlfriend Wendy (Kristy Swanson) and apparently the father of two daughters. To his chagrin, Ben discovers this version of himself is anything but wealthy, and to top it off, he finds out that he's now a minister…just as he's introduced to his new church. Could things possibly get any worse? Or will Ben discover his real life isn't all he thought it was? What If is great little film about the choices we make and the fact that there is indeed a plan for everyone's life. Ben Walker resists this idea, and angrily tells Mike that life has no point: you live, you die, that's it. But Ben didn't always think like that. Fifteen years ago he was on the brink of joining the seminary, and he and Wendy were preparing for a life of ministry together. But Ben left Wendy at the bus station one day and never went back. That day he didn't only break a promise to Wendy, but to God as well.Kevin Sorbo is absolutely terrific as Ben, and wonderfully conveys the hapless protagonist's gradual transformation from oily and arrogant businessman to frustrated refugee in an alternate timeline to loving father, husband, and pastor. Sorbo has always been a charismatic actor, and his role in What If may be the highlight of his career. Kristy Swanson is likewise great as Ben's loving but confused wife Wendy, and John Ratzenberger imbues his angelic character with personality and down-to-earth sincerity. The script doesn't shy away from religious themes and tackles some weighty ones, but never becomes preachy or cliché.There are a lot of spiritual films out there during the Christmas season each year, but few of them will hold a candle to What If.

"It's finally a well-made Christian movie," people said. "It's a faith-based family movie that gets its messages across without hitting you with it over the head," people said. "It's the best work Kevin Sorbo has ever done," people said. Well, it isn't. Whatever "What If" may be, what it is not is certainly any of the above.And, frankly: I am hard-pressed to say what it really is and what the hell it wants (and I'm choosing my words deliberately here). What it quite possibly might be, is a vehicle to show you what excellent acting can do in order to carry along a crappy script set in scene by an uninspired director. Because although it is most definitely not the best work Kevin Sorbo has ever done (Andromeda, Hercules, Walking Tall, Avenging Angel, The Santa Suit anyone?), he does do a marvelous job here, congenially supported by Kristy Swanson and John Ratzenberger. But even the best acting can only accomplish so much.The script is a mess - and a bad mess at that. Ben Walker leaves his home town for the big city, leaving behind his fiancée (why?) and his ministry calling (one may question how strong a calling this might have been in the first place) to take someone up on an offer for a business opportunity. 15 years later he is a successful investment banker, with a talent for merciless deals and a fancy for tailor-cut suits, expensive cars and beautiful women. We get the info that he's left his girl and his calling to fend for themselves, without ever throwing a look back. How some small-town theologian mutated into an investment banker no-one really knows. What's worse: no-one even seems to ask this question ever. Instead, the movie deals in easy messages: big city, fancy cars, uptown girls, nice clothes and general cleanness = bad, ugly houses in lower middle class neighborhoods populated by badly dressed, slightly dirty people with slightly slutty teenage daughters = good.This is the enviable environment God chooses to drop Ben Walker in, after forcibly removing him from his upper class life on the fast lane. After a weird encounter with an angel masquerading as a mechanic that ends with a knock-out, he wakes up to being the longtime husband of Wendy (the girl he'd left many years before), the father of the said slutty teenage daughter (most woodenly played by the remarkably untalented Debbie Ryan) and another about 7-8-year-old, "supposed to be intoxicating sweet" one (Taylor Groothuis in an annoying cover-version of Shirley Temple) and the newly appointed pastor of a broke church and congregation. After much struggle and a lot of wise words from his very own, godly appointed personal angel, Ben Walker comes to like this new life and starts succeeding at it. Paradoxically, his success in this brave, new "white trash"-world is marked by him using the skills, talents and wisdoms he's developed in his big city, investment banking career.As a result, the most predominant message of this most inspired work of art is: make lots of money, it can solve every problem you eventually might have.At some point (somewhere midway through the dramatic finale) the creative minds behind all of this must have realized that something's not quite working out the way it should. In they threw a dying rich old man, who Ben conveniently puts back on track to God, thereby saving both "Scrooge's" and his own soul by it – for the sermon meant for the rich guy is, of course, also meant for himself, since the rich guy is nothing but a parabola of what Ben would end up as, were he to continue on the big city, big career road, blah, blah, blah… In case we didn't get that, he gets to spell it out later in a discussion with his personal angel, who chooses right this moment to inform him that God has now decided that Ben has learned his lesson and may now return back to his old life. May? No. Must!!! So presumably, the second message of What If is "after solving it all by throwing some money at the world, remember that God is a bit of a sadist who likes to toy around with the lives of mortals", in short: the kind of deity Hercules would have found worthy of some major ass-kicking.Back in his old life, Ben then quickly reforms by answering God's call: he dumps his fiancée (apparently, God told him to save himself and the world, but rich, middle-aged beauties do not qualify to be among the ones deemed worthy of such endeavor), quits his job, throws some more money and luxury goods at hospital employees and parochial helps and rejoins the simple girl with a heart of gold he'd left many years ago – who apparently didn't build up anything resembling a life in those 15 years, because after a bit of "required" struggle, she generously decides to take Ben back.Apparently, this constitutes the happy end of it.The only redeeming quality of this entire, sordidly stupid affair lies in the terrific acting of its three main actors. It is so good, it makes you laugh and cry and feel along with them, in spite of being acutely aware of how embarrassingly poorly written and told a story this is, in spite of the poor technical quality of the camera work, the crappy score, the lame jokes, the bad sound, plainly said: of the really bad work everyone not named Sorbo, Swanson or Ratzenberger delivered on this project. Sorbo, at least, got a Movietime Award out of it. He should have gotten an Oscar, just for making it through it all with his usual decency.

Another "Modern Day Frank Capra" flickCan you Say (Mr. Destiny or The Family Man) We have seen this scenario played out a million times or more.How many times can you re-create a recreation? Time for some Original Ideas to start Flowing Hollywood! I guess someone just needed a paycheck.I think a project like this should require some credits to ALL the movies before it. Credits given back to movies that actually came up with the idea first.I guess Hollywood is finally out of all of its creativity. Time to just collect paychecks for bad movies.

Have you ever wondered what your life would be like if you had made different choices? Can we really have a second chance in life to do things differently?What If...a new Christian movie in theatrical release from Pure Flix Entertainment starring Kevin Sorbo, Kristy Swanson, Debby Ryan, and John Ratzenberger offers a whimsical look into one man's life and the choices he's made over a fifteen year period. The story follows a similar theme as the classic "It's a Wonderful Life" but with a little twist.What If... is currently playing at one of our local theaters, so I went to see it this afternoon. I cannot tell you how much I love this movie! Everything about the production is top quality (not to mention the added bonus that some of it was filmed in MY city...hooray for Grand Rapids, MI!) and I am thrilled to encourage everyone I know to go out and see it. This is a movie filled with humor and a wonderful message reminding us of God's love and that He has a good plan for each one of our lives.Here's the plain and simple: What If... truly delivers from beginning to end! Great story, superior acting, and just fun to watch.By the way, hat's off to Pure Flix Entertainment! A Christian production company which is obviously stepping up it's game and offering top quality movies for all audiences. I can't wait to see what they give us next, especially if it's performed with the same excellence as "What If..."So if your looking for a great family film check out the official What If... website and find out when and where it's playing in your area. If it's not available then make sure you join the campaign to bring the film to your city because your going to want to take your whole church on a field trip to see it! It would also make an awesome date night movie (hint, hint!)