Directors: Josh Gordon & Will Speck
Starring: Jason Bateman, Jennifer Aniston & Thomas Robinson
A likeable comedy drama with an enjoyable performance by Bateman, The Switch does play things quite safe so isn’t particularly memorable but wisely avoids going the way of gross out gags in favor of a little more maturity.
Originally to be titled ‘The Baster’, the filmmakers made the wise choice of renaming the film The Switch to play down expectations that the film would have more emphasis on comedy than drama and/or be a more gross out style of comedy. Having its release pushed back to avoid conflicting with the release of a film with a similar premise starring Jennifer Lopez called The Back Up Plan, The Switch may be coming to cinemas too late to feel original in it’s premise of a woman looking to be artificially inseminated and needed her best, male friend to assist but The Switch is certainly a likeable film with some nice performances from Jason Bateman and Thomas Robinson even if the film itself does tell it’s story in a safe and predictable manner.
Wally (Bateman) has been Kassie’s (Aniston) best friend for 6 years. Wally has also been in love with her the entire time without ever admitting it to Kassie or anyone and feels he missed out on his chance due to his neuroticism. When Kassie decides she is through with trying to find Mr. Right she decides she wants a child and begins looking for potential suitors for artificial insemination, asking Wally to help. When Kassie finds a suitor in Roland (Patrick Wilson), she throws a celebration where Wally, in a drunken state, accidentally spills Roland’s sample for Kassie and finds himself replacing it with his own. Remembering none of this once sober, Kassie moves away to raise her child out of the city but returns 7 years later with her son Sebastian (Robinson) in tow. Reconnecting with Wally, Wally soon realizes through Sebastian’s neurotic behavior that Sebastian is in fact his son and not Roland whom Kassie is looking to reconnect with. Wally is then left in the situation of having to tell Kassie the truth about who Sebastian’s father is and confess his feelings for her before she makes the mistake of spending her life with Roland.
While the title originally conceived for this film and some of its marketing including Bateman looking at a semen sample might provoke assumptions that The Switch is more of a comedy than a drama, the resulting film is one that favors drama while still providing humor. This works to the film’s benefit as while there is a romantic element involved between Bateman and Aniston’s character, this film is more about Bateman’s Wally and his reactions to becoming a father and overcoming his fears, his neuroticisms, to do the right thing and maybe be happy at last. Wally is a sympathetic and likeable character throughout and his story is one that you hope turns out well for him. Some of this likeability is down to Bateman’s performance but the script deals with his character and his relationship to others in a mostly mature fashion which aids the story. However, despite the film’s likeability, it is also quite predictable and there seems little doubt over who Aniston’s Kassie will ultimately choose to be with by the end or that Wally will bond with Sebastian and learn life lessons that make him stronger. While some time is used to convey and confront the character of Roland’s belief that life throws you curveballs, The Switch does not really throw any at the audience and unless you’re particularly fond of happy endings, the ending itself is nice but somewhat unsatisfactory feeling a little forced.
Jason Bateman puts in a good performance as Wally. While the role itself bears too much in common with that of Michael Bluth on TV’s Arrested Development, Bateman is nevertheless enjoyable to watch, particularly in scenes he shares with Thomas Robinson playing Wally’s son. Bateman and Robinson have some good on screen chemistry and Robinson too puts in a nice performance, initially playing to miserable kid type but becoming warmer later. Jennifer Aniston is decent as Kassie though he story is less present than Wally’s and Aniston doesn’t add anything to her performance to separate it from much of what she’s done before. Amongst the supporting cast we have a highly likeable turn from Jeff Goldblum as Wally’s friend with Goldblum’s natural charisma stealing scenes, Juliette Lewis is somewhat annoying as Kassie’s friend but plays the character’s type well while Patrick Wilson’s performance as Roland is just the right level of likeable but with enough vulnerabilities shown that you can root against his character without hating him but rather seeing it as the best thing for him too.
Overall, The Switch is a little more mature than might be expected. The story is somewhat predictable and many of the actors aren’t providing performances that you haven’t seen them give before but Bateman makes for a likeable lead and he has good chemistry with child actor Thomas Robinson. Throw in an excellent Jeff Goldblum in a supporting role and The Switch is an enjoyable if average comedy drama.
Rating: 3/5
