Post by StevePulaski on Aug 22, 2011 20:29:00 GMT -5
Jason Bateman and Ryan Reynolds.
Rating: ★★
The Change-Up bathes in a whole new tub or immaturity and low-brow jokes. Just when you thought The Hangover Part II was the raunchiest piece of film in 2011, casually, but awkwardly walks in this boasting a tiresome eighties formula and off color jokes that twenty years ago would've got you labeled a "no-class" citizen.
Despite being stamped with an R rating, it seems the humor was targeted toward juvenile twelve year olds who laugh at excessive uses of four letter words and sex references. Boy, this film comes with its share of gratuitous nudity and sexual content. So bad that I'm sure the MPAA was shaking their head when writing down everything this included. I am no prude. I have no problem with language, sex, drugs, or anything. Just as long as it's funny, it has a purpose, and it isn't every ten seconds. The Change-Up doesn't seem to get the fact that swear-humor wares thin.
The eighties did away with body-and-mind-swap films, and I think The Change-Up wants to be either nostalgic or clever at resurrecting a tired concept. One body swapping movie I liked to a very stern extent was Dream a Little Dream. It was a true eighties film, but neglected to mention on the back cover and in the trailer it was a convoluted reality-bent film. That's an inexcusable move on the film's part. At least this tells us what it is blatantly.
We meet Mitch (Reynolds) and Dave (Bateman) two best-friends drifting apart because of life's duties. Right off the bat, from that sentence, could've spawned a much smarter and much more interesting film. Lifelong buddies going their separate ways, struggling to hold on, yet constantly fighting, maybe ending in a decent twist. But I don't know if that would be the place to squeeze in so many crude jokes.
Anyway, Mitch is a free-spirit man-child who loves to have random sex with a pregnant woman, and Dave has a wife (Mann) and three children. One real girl, and two CGI-ed infants to be exact. One day, they urinate in a fountain and wish they had each other's lives. Boom. Wish comes true and now Mitch is Dave, and Dave is Mitch.
They must get used to being in each other's bodies, but then again, both are just as crude and low as the other, the only difference is one actually cares about his family and the only person the other cares about is his pregnant sex-buddy.
The problem with The Change-Up is not only that it resurrects a subject that should've remained dead, but the fact that it feels it's "on a roll" with its sick humor and deliberately childish antics. We get babies doing their business on Bateman's face, awkward love scenes that could very well tie Bad Teacher for worst sex scene of the year, and we also get enough language to sustain a George Carlin comedy special.
This isn't a disaster, but it in no means shines past its roots. The only likable character is Dave's wife played by Leslie Mann who I adored in Funny People. I keep hoping she goes down the path of Amy Adams, and gets herself an Oscar in a future drama role, but The Change-Up certainly couldn't have helped matters.
I've said before 2011 is the year of the women with comedies like Bad Teacher, Bridesmaids, and Hall Pass showing that women can be just as funny as men. This film only proves my point that when you have a supporting actress better than the two comedy, typecast leads you should make a film on her rather than them.
Starring: Jason Bateman, Ryan Reynolds, and Leslie Mann. Directed by: David Dobkin.