Jason Bateman and Ryan Reynolds in "The Change Up"

“The Change Up” Goes Everywhere but ‘Up’

The director of “Wedding Crashers” (2005) and most recently, “Friends With Benefits” (2011) David Dobkin, is at it again and let’s just say he doesn’t hold anything back.

Funny guys, Jason Bateman (“Horrible Bosses” 2011) and Ryan Reynolds (“Green Lantern” 2011) star as two long time best friends who choose completely different paths in life. These paths were so different in fact, they slowly drifted apart over the years. Dave (Bateman) is a workaholic lawyer and dedicated family man, while the occasionally employed, immature pothead, Mitch (Reynolds), dabbles in ‘acting gigs’ or ‘lornos’ (light pornos).

Bateman and Reynolds are incredibly talented actors but are limited to showing their full comedic potential in this film. Bateman’s notoriously quirky energy is absent while Reynolds plays an unbelievably dumber than dumb character. Mann plays her typical ‘wife that is taken advantage of and deserves better’ character, but as always, plays it well. Alan Arkin (“City Island” 2009) hits the nail on the head playing Mitch’s condescending and guarded yet caring father, while Olivia Wilde (“House ” 2007-2011) stars as Dave’s hot paralegal (and secret crush).

Despite some initial hesitation from the over-committed Dave, Mitch convinces him to meet for drinks while they watch the Braves versus Marlins game. While catching up on each other’s polar opposite lives, both Dave and Mitch start imagining how great life would be on the other side of the fence. Mitch envisions the perfect wife with three kids in a traditional suburban home. Dave is convinced he “pissed away his 20s” by settling down too early and not living the bachelor life. Little did Dave know the irony that statement would have just minutes later…

After one too many brewskies, Dave and Mitch have a heart to heart in a park while relieving themselves in a community fountain. Suddenly, the entire city is in complete darkness. The following scene abruptly jumps to the next morning, where Dave and Mitch realize they’ve woken up in each other’s bodies. Their wish just came true.

The overall message that the grass isn’t always greener certainly rings true in this film and there are some touching scenes revealing this, but how many times is Hollywood going to try and rework this storyline? You may recall, “Vice Versa” (1988), “Big” (1988) “Freaky Friday” (1976 and 2003), “13 Going on 30” (2004) and “17 Again” (2009) just to name a few. The character critiques say quite a bit about the writing as well. This script is about as smart the entire cast of “Jersey Shore” put together. The plot is overused, the acting of the main characters is sub par and overall, audience members probably feel duped having paid $10 to see something they’ve already seen, multiple times.

As the film progresses, we witness these characters severely struggle trying to live a completely opposite lifestyle. The characters are not the only people struggling, however; the audience is too. Throughout Dave and Mitch’s learning process, audiences are lucky enough (insert sarcasm here) to be bystanders to these outrageous scenarios: porn, babies’ projectile (fill in the blank) in daddy’s face, drugs, booze, gross-out bodily excretions, nude pregnant women, boobs galore, and babies rapidly banging their head against a crib, playing with knife sets and sticking their fingers in blenders…the list goes on.

Based on the previous descriptions one might say, “Oh, this must be a guy’s movie, then?” Well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I barely heard any laughs in the theater for at least the first 45 minutes into the comedy. Most guys didn’t seem to be too impressed by these antics, either (which, let’s admit, says a lot).

Bottom Line? Think “Freaky Friday” but on an opposite spectrum - two incredibly vulgar adult men and too much gross-out, toilet related ‘humor.’ Pushing the limits is one thing, but “The Change Up” pushes too far.

Jessica Aymond © August 5, 2011