The SWITCH

“THE SWITCH” (Jason Bateman & Jennifer Aniston)

To call this a typical ‘rom-com’ is a mistake – there really isn’t much ‘rom’ – The lead female character has a child via a sperm donor – how romantic is that? & there isn’t much ‘com’ – But is there EVER in any typical ‘rom-com’?
This is the story of two friends; Wally (Bateman) & Kassie (Aniston) They have been best friends for several years, much to Wally’s chagrin, but he’s grateful to have been placed in the ‘friend-zone’ by Kassie so at least he’s a part of her life.
Wally isn’t easy to like, which is another reason he’s grateful for his position with Kassie. When Kassie tells him she plans to have a child out of wedlock by finding a sperm donor, he suggests she use his baby making fluids. She laughs in his face, saying, “You can’t be serious?” Among his many detriments, Wally is a hypochondriac who hums seductively when eating a scrumptious meal.
Instead Kassie finds Roland (Patrick Wilson) a good looking married father of two & the ‘conception’ is to take place at Kassie’s best female friend’s apartment. Why? Because Wally couldn’t exchange his specimen for Roland’s if it were done realistically.
Speaking of unrealistic set-ups, this film is hampered by an unrealistic character – the offspring of Kassie & Wally’s non-coital union, Sebastian. The kid comes into the picture at the age of 6 when Kassie moves back to New York – his first meeting with ‘Uncle’ Wally is so contrived & unbelievable, I hated the kid & brought my hopes that this film might be better than advertised crashing down so hard it smashed them to smithereens. Sebastian enters spouting medical terms that only ‘specialist’ doctors would know how to pronounce – of course, this intense intelligence is given to the 6 year old via the internet, so that makes it believable. A few scenes later, during an excursion to the aquarium, Uncle Wally tells Sebastian he has hypochondria. “What’s that?” Sebastian queries... This, from the kid who knew every disease & disorder known to mankind!
Jeff Goldblum, whom I haven’t seen for a few years, was providing his usual schtick as Wally’s boss & buddy, Leonard. And Leonard was quite humorous – Was it because I wasn’t expecting to find anyone funny in a ‘rom-com’, or the fact that I hadn’t been numbed by Goldblum’s ‘deja vu’ acting style so I found his quirky delivery refreshing for a change?
But eventually, ‘The Switch’ grew on me & I would say that it was mainly due to Bateman’s performance – he gets better as the story progresses – even his relationship with Sebastian becomes more realistic; Walking with the boy, he says, “Tell me about your new school.” “Why?” Sebastian asks. “Because you’re a kid and there’s nothing else to talk about.” It’s those believable little moments that turned this from a disaster into something likeable.
The finale gets wrapped up into a neat little ribbon way too quickly, but I’m guessing that’s the fault of ‘preview’ audiences who insisted upon a happy ending – it would have been better without it, but ‘The Switch’ isn’t a bad film – It is if you go in thinking you’re going to see a ‘rom-com’ (&, like my wife, you’re a fan of those generic wastes of time) but this is simply a sweet little story of friendship & how horribly wrong things can go when people start bringing more children into the world... Just my opinion, I could be wrong... but I’m not.