REVIEW: ‘The Switch’ is just another chick flick
“The Switch” wasn’t good enough for me to start this review with a full blast of excitement and exaggeration, but it was not bad or boring enough for me to go on a rant about how terrible each aspect of the movie was.
So, here lies “The Switch,” smack-dab in the middle of mediocrity and magnificence. In short, it was good. Well, as good as any ordinary chick-flick could be.
Kassie (Jennifer Aniston) is a single woman and movie producer whose biological clock is no longer merely ticking but ringing like a fire alarm, impossible to ignore.
Kassie has come to the conclusion that she is no longer going to wait around for Mr. Right in order to mother a child of her own. This, of course, could only mean one thing, artificial insemination–just forget about adopting starving children in developing countries.
Her neurotic best friend, Wally (Jason Bateman), is the first to find out and is not exactly jumping with joy when he hears the news. Stuck in the friend zone for more than 13 years, Wally is hit by a giant pile of reality, gets a little tipsy and spills the designated donor’s … um, donation. He is then forced–so it would seem, under the influence–to “refill” the baby-making formula.
Fast forward seven years: Kassie has a son, and as for Wally, well, nothing really changed. Wally decides to step out of his comfort zone to reveal his long-held secret and buried feelings. POOF! You’ve got yourself a predictable chick-flick.
The Switch was not quite an original idea but it still differed from similar movies like Baby Mama and The Back-Up Plan. It was not as hilarious as the Tina Fey-Amy Poehler combo, or a waste of time and money like J-Lo’s latest, and it did have a little something for everybody: humor, mystery and romance.
When a movie is really well-done, I don’t feel like I am just another person sitting in a audience watching a piece of moving art for two hours. I become so consumed in the story that I forget I am in a movie theater at all.
Such an effect was minimal in “The Switch.” There was nothing bad about it, but there just was not anything that made this romantic comedy stick out among the others.
The acting was great however, I will give it that. Jennifer Aniston has become a successful actress not because of how long she has been in the business but because she is actually good at what she does, and getting better.
As for Jason Bateman, who I’ve only otherwise seen in Juno, he was rather refreshing. A little irrational behavior and an interesting sense of humor added to Wally’s character and gave this film an extra boost.
But without the adorable little actor Thomas Robinson, the film would be nothing but mediocre. Thomas played the role of Sebastian, Kassie’s son. Also a little neurotic, he collects picture frames but keeps the original pictures in them. That’s right, the fake family model photos. He does this because he does not have much of a family so he pretends those people in the frames are his. Precious, I know.
Being a child actor usually only goes one of two ways; you got the job because you are cute or you got the job because you have talent. Thomas mastered both, and once his big, brown doe-eyes met the screen for the first time, I was sucked in and he wasn’t letting go.
Yes, it is a chick-flick, but men can enjoy this rom-com, too. The Switch is a simple feature film that has a lot to offer. Men, if you do not believe me, then at least take your girlfriend to see it. That will get you some bonus points, and even more if you cry!
–anike.pullens@aggiemail.usu.edu