One day, Wallace (Daniel Radcliffe) meets Chantry (Zoe Kazan), and the two hit it off quite nicely until Chantry reveals that she's already in a relationship. As a result of this, the two settle for the "F word" - friends. But could their relationship grow closer?
It's to the credit of the dialogue and the actors delivering it that The F Word is as enjoyable as it is. Conversations are punchy and flow smoothly, and the on-screen chemistry between Radcliffe and Kazan is excellent. The strange relationship between their characters really comes to life in their hands, and the result makes this love story a great deal easier to digest. Indeed, these two lead actors partially carry the movie through their excellent performances, truly selling the emotions that their characters are feeling. Radcliffe in particular displays his versatility, with this being his first role I've seen since the final "Harry Potter" back in 2011.
The other great strength of this film is its dialogue. A lot of entertainment value comes from the banter between characters, While the performances are a huge asset to conversations between Wallace and Chantry, the writing also sells their friendship, with their aforementioned banter being generally entertaining, which is credit to the witty script. Other strings of dialogue are equally sharp, with the writing always being very fitting to the characters and largely filled with good humour and strong writing.
The characters themselves are quite likeable, and while I wouldn't go as far as to call them memorable, they each have a nice mix of elements that makes them stand out. Wallace is, as one character says, "banter-y". Chantry is less unique in her personality, being partially defined as "quirky and cute". To be fair, though, Kazan sells it, and between her and the eminently likeable Radcliffe, these leads are admittedly adorable. There's a reasonable number of side characters, but aside from Chantry's boyfriend Ben (Rafe Spall) and Wallace's sister (I think), there's a strange tendency for side characters to have the common characteristic of "trashy". Generally these characters can be differentiated from each other, but the repeated use of that character trace comes off as an excuse to make sex jokes.
And there are a lot of sex jokes. "The F Word" attempts to be a blend of a quirky indie comedy and a crass mainstream comedy, and while the former mostly works quite well, the latter consists heavily of scatological and sexual humour to the point where it starts to get repetitive. Considering that these jokes are already puerile to begin with, the result is that the film's humour is a mixed bag. Thankfully, the jokes go by quickly enough that the blend isn't too uneasy, even if only half of the mixture works.
However, a bigger problem comes with the story itself. It's got an interesting premise that could be used in a number of subversive ways, but the film decides to submit to genre cliches by relentlessly following a "Will they or won't they?" conflict. Indeed, the inevitable outcome is obvious throughout almost the entire movie, despite the film frequently giving itself openings where it could veer into a very different direction, one which would have a lot more to say than the film we got. For a love story with a premise that implies potential infidelity, the film shies away from actually letting its leads get together like the film keeps implying they're going to until it can skirt away from the difficult issue. It's a safe film that could have been genuinely challenging, and while that doesn't undo all of the good will the film built up with its solid leads and punchy banter, it does hurt my opinion quite a bit.
"The F Word" is an entertaining, nicely-written film that is carried by its remarkably strong leads, but it's weighed down by an over-reliance on sex and poop jokes and its insistence on pursuing a cliched resolution. It's enjoyable enough in its own right, but if you're looking for something fresh and intelligent this isn't it.
6/10
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