The Change-Up

by Joshua Albertson
(North Carolina)

The Change-Up, hum…
Okay, for those of you that don’t know what The Change-Up is here, it is basically Freaky Friday but with guys who wished for the other’s life while urinating in a fountain. Yeah, that’s the story. One of whom is a father, Dave Lockwood (Jason Bateman) an up and coming lawyer who is under a lot of pressure as of late. However, what they did not tell you is that Mitch Planko (Ryan Reynolds) is a massive pervert in this film. Sure, they have hinted at it in the previews, but all I got from that is Mitch is regular guy having promiscuous sex.
Yes, the film is funny, it is hilarious at points, for instance, when Mitch and Dave first switch bodies and meet each other, Dave who is now Ryan Reynolds starts choking the body he was once in and repeats, “Wake up, wake up!” whilst strangling the other—you know that I am saying all this it seems sort of like a comedic version of John Woo’s masterpiece Face/Off in a way. Anyway, what I realized about thirty minutes in was that I may have gotten my hands on an UNRATED copy without realizing it…unless, of course that’s all they had. Reason being, I don’t get why Ryan Reynolds’ character drops the F bomb in ever other sentence. While I’m at it, yes it was funny when he was speaking to the babies, mainly because it caught me off guard the way he said it. And before you ask, yes, both Jason Bateman and Ryan Reynolds give amazing performances here. However, this is not a film I would recommend to my friend and if I did it, my reasons would be for them to witness the absolutely hysterical scenes.
I took into account, though, that I did get a little sick during the film. Why? Well, here’s why, most of the film’s humor is of childish nature—yes it is very adult oriented but it’s extremely immature! Like when Jason Bateman, who is in Ryan Reynolds’ body, caries out a few favors for Mitch (Ryan Reynolds) who posses his original body at the moment. The instance I speak of is when Mitch (who is supposed to be) having intercourse with a woman named Tatiana (Mircea Monroe) who happens to be pregnant and due at any moment. There is an effect added to her stomach where the child she is carrying presses its face and hand against the inside of her stomach. Have you ever seen the cover of Godsmack’s junior album “Faceless”? Or “Degredation Trip Part 2” by Jerry Cantrell? Oh, yeah, I forgot about the irony in the fact that Ryan Reynolds’ character has a Kitana styled sword just like his character Deadpool from X-Men Origins: Wolverine!
Overall, The Change-Up is a mediocre comedy with two really good actors. I would avoid this film because we all know someone is going to post the funniest scenes on YouTube.