Have you ever wished you could be someone else for a day, a week, a lifetime? The Change-Up will give you a couple of good reasons to stop doing that in the body-swap movie to rule them all… starring Jason Bateman and Ryan Reynolds. This is not a Disney movie folks, in fact, it’s what the Farrelly brothers were envisioning for Hall Pass, which tried to blend the worst of bachelor humour with the best of suburban family values. Oh, there are one or two Hallmark moments in all of the fiasco – but you will be surprised at the casting… two of Hollywood’s nicest nice guy actors.
Dave (Bateman), a successful lawyer and family man is given a chance to live the bachelor life he missed when he and his childhood best friend slacker-turn-actor, Mitch (Reynolds) take a pee in a special wishing well together. The deadbeat wannabe actor, in some ways an extension of Van Wilder, is forced to grow up as the two swap bodies and try to continue life in each others shoes… or shower flip-flops. As each of the men get to know each other a whole lot better, they learn some valuable life lessons along the way getting to experience the elusive lifestyle they so envied all the while tracking down the even more elusive fountain.
“You are not having sex with my wife.”
It’s a roller-coaster ride of awkward moments and calamities as each buddy takes one for the team, while enjoying the benefits and responsibilities of being each other for a while. Guys will be guys and what else would you expect from Wedding Crashers director David Dobkin and The Hangover writers John Lucas and Scott Moore?
Bateman is best known for his role as Michael Bluth ofArrested Development and has had a succession of hit-and-miss “nice guy” roles along the way with a good turn in The Switch and less-than-satisfactory performances in Horrible Bosses and Paul. The Change-Up is his return to form as he gets to have a little fun as the player in the lawyer suit.
Ryan Reynolds has also carved a likable mold for himself in Hollywood, but you’ll find very little to like about his slacker character whose pottymouth and degenerative lifestyle leave a trail of mucuous. Reynolds is fantastic at being Prince Charming and gets a chance to exercise those skills when he’s cast into the dark world of medium core porn and confronted with a string of vivacious night-prowling women as the innocent rebel without a cause.
“You had me at hubba-HUBBA…”
Speaking of vivacious, TRON: Legacy’s Olivia Wilde and Knocked Up’s Leslie Mann play supporting characters as the bodacious office babe and foxy stay-at-home mama. Wilde is drop dead gorgeous and it’s actually difficult to get past the doll face to her smart, spunky law firm character. More surprising, however, is Leslie Mann who has made a bit of a thing of playing slightly neurotic 30-something wives and mothers. It’s a bit of a break-out role for her, managing to dig herself out of the rut with a smoking hot figure beneath all the breastfeeding and domestic strife.
There’s a bit of a nasty streak in the comedy with babies bumping heads, backlot porn shoots and offensive child-rearing – making this the movie Hall Pass wanted to be. It’s vicarious escapism and a guilty pleasure for most guys (and some gals), who get a chance to hang out on both sides of the pendulum, whether making or rearing babies. A late Disney moment almost derails the movie in an attempt to salvage some heart, but the spirit of daring fun and outrageous behaviour is what wins out. So all in all, dashing and daring, not courageous or caring.
The bottom line: Daring
Release Date: 30 September, 2011
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