The Change-Up: Review By B. Alan Orange

Fans of Jason Bateman's earliest work on Silver Spoons, and especially It's Your Move, will remember a diamond sapphire douche of a kid with electric timing and an edge that had yet to be explored on youth oriented television at that time. Somewhere around the Hogan Family and Teen Wolf Too, Bateman sank into the depths of disaffected average Joe, a man quietly disgusted with life who always had a witty bon mot at his side as the proverbial lifesaver. Arrested Development really pushed this persona home, and Jason has been stuck as the well-meaning, slightly aloof, smarter-than-your-average bear ex-frat boy done good by his woman and his children ever since. The Change-Up allows the comedic actor to return to his deep roots, and in exchange, we get one of the loudest firecracker performances we've seen out of the man in quite a long time.

But its not all sunshine and lollipops in this literal coming-of-age metaphoric tale from Wedding Crashers director David Dobkin. In the first two minutes, a baby sh*ts chocolate fudge deep inside the mouth of Jason Bateman's harried father Dave. Then, for the next twenty minutes or so, the director proceeds to do the same to the audience. Dobkin has no idea how to kick start a comedy, instead diving head first into thick shtick and cartoony CGI to produce some of the most groan inducing sight gags witnessed this decade (a decade that is still young; so it could get a lot worse). The uphill climb of this roller coaster is a brutal one. And its not until Jason Bateman drops his now-clichéd on-screen personality and assumes the role of a selfish, weeded man-whor* that things begin to pick up and actually be somewhat fun.

I say somewhat with a heavy breath. Its like saying picking scabs is somewhat fun.

The premise of The Change-up is as old as leftover 4th of July hamburger meat. It has maggots on it. This is Freaky Friday done in the R rated style of the Hangover, with some vintage "There's Something About the Farrelly Brothers" gross-out humor sprinkled on top. Dobkin goes for stupid right off the bat, and it leaves a definite bad taste in your mouth. That, added to the fact that Ryan Reynolds may have, just maybe, been miscast, and this looks to be swinging on par with Like Father, Like Son, aiming to be the second worst body swap movie in the history of the genre. But over the course of a long hour and forty-seven minutes, Bateman and his on-screen wife Leslie Mann somehow manage to save it from being truly awful.

I seriously had doubts I'd stay seated heading into that second act. But I did.

Jason Bateman plays Dave, who is married to the beautiful Jamie (Leslie Mann). He has infant twins, one of whom likes to bang his head against his crib like a thrasher, and a grade school ballerina queen who is being picked on by a bully dike. He's turned soft. Some might even say he is a p*ssy. He wants to be made a partner at his law firm, and is on the cusp of doing so, but at the risk of losing his attentive wife in the process. Basically, he's a good man drifting. And the body swap is a stand-in for his midlife crisis. Which we don't see happen too often with a forty-year-old man, because in Hollywood 40, as you may know, is the new twenty.

The man he swaps bodies with is his best friend Mitch, played by Ryan Reynolds. And as handsome as the actor is, he feels too old to be playing this type of couch dwelling, unmotivated actor-type who is but a spec of sh*t smudged on the wrong side of the world. Maybe that's the point. There is a defined melancholy locked in the man's eyes that only worsens once the Dave character moves into his body. It becomes a weird, sad sack clown performance that throws all the fun Bateman seems to be having off kilter. Even weirder, thinking back on the scenes that feature Ryan as occupied by the persona of Bateman, it feels like Bateman was actually in those scenes. That is great acting. Phenomenal for this type of throwaway comedy. But something about it just doesn't sit right.

All of the actors in this movie are far better than such a script deserves, especially Leslie Mann, who brings a weighted dramatic performance, giving the movie some much needed heart, and renders the construct of Reynold's Mitch nothing more than a tool used to push the plot forward. He could almost be an imaginary friend, as the story found lingering around the recesses of The Change-Up is, at its core, about this marriage between Dave and Jamie. A couple who actually seem to love each other.

Mitch is used as a vessel for Dave to explore those things he's been missing in life. Like time alone. Taking a sh*t in private. Masturbating. But at the end of the day, he absolutely, without a doubt, loves his wife, and she loves him back. Which we know, because Leslie Mann is knocking her scenes out of the park in ways that are surprising and challenging, and not really meant for this type of summer diversion. She keeps the bizarre premise grounded in a much-needed reality, taking what should be a piece of set decoration, and turning it into the best character in the film.

Too bad she is underutilized. She has to be. The screen needs to give equal time to Ryan's lost soul Mitch. Even though we don't really care about him, or his problems with his dad (Alan Arkin), which feel tacked on with plywood, and serve as a poor excuse for Dobkins to squeeze a wedding into his comedy once again. Worse, and this is what the movie gets completely wrong, Mitch needs a love interest. Which comes in the form of Olivia Wilde. She falls in love with Dave while he is trapped in Mitch's body. And Dave falls for her too. Even though, in every other scene, he seems to be head over heels in love with his wife. He'd never let his torrid fling with Wilde's character manifest itself in the way that it does.

So those scenes feel completely contrived. Awash in male fantasy fulfillment. At the end of the day, she stays with Mitch after he's returned to his own body. Why? When she obviously loves Dave? Well, and this is certainly addressed at the end of the movie, its because Ryan Reynolds is good looking. And it doesn't matter if there is a sweet family man behind those eyes or a selfish, obscene-word spouting douche. He's bangable, so why not stay with him?

It's the same conundrum that plagued the end of one of the most peculiar and creepy body-switch movies of all time, Dream a Little Dream. Meredith Salenger spends the whole movie falling in love with some old man, only to wind up with the high school dropout played by Corey Feldman. Logically speaking, it makes little sense. But these movies seldom do. At least Dobkin and his cast wink at this notion, acknowledging the dumbness of it all. It is, after all, just a summer comedy.

One that would be truly awful if it weren't for Jason Bateman and Leslie Mann, their performances, and the relationship they bring to the screen. At the end of the day, it's easy to recommend the movie for what they bring to the table. The first half and initial set-up gets a solid Boo! While the second half gets a not too enthusiastic Whoop-Doo! There are better movies to see at the Cineplex. Save your money for those, and check this out when it comes home in two months. It feels like it will play better in that environment. It will be in the $3 bin at Big Lots soon enough. Right there alongside The Ex and Couple Retreat.

Can someone please find Jason Bateman a script worthy of his talents?