THE CHANGE UP REVIEW

Ah, the body-swap story. It’s that old reliable that appears every few years, in different guises but usually with similar jokes and guises. Right on schedule this summer comes The Change Up, directed by David Dobkin of Wedding Crashers and starring Ryan Reynolds, Jason Bateman, Olivia Wilde and Leslie Mann. Is it a worthwhile addition to the many that have gone before?

Well, yes and no. The Change Up doesn’t break any new ground, nor does it bring anything particularly different to the table compared to older movies of this ilk. At the same time though, it is good for a laugh, if you like this sort of thing.

Reynolds plays immature loser Mitch, who is an ‘actor’ with no job, and Bateman plays Dave, a hugely successful lawyer with twins, a little girl, a wife and gorgeous house. They’re best friends but have drifted apart somewhat – until they go out drinking one night and confess they both want each other’s lives. However they do this whilst peeing in a fountain that magically swaps their bodies (?!)

There’s a good HOUR of jokes-only after the swap, with both leads adapting to the new roles pretty well. Bateman manages better than Reynolds, going from geeky to douchy instantly, and effectively. Leslie Mann, as Dave’s oblivious wife, plays the exact same character she plays in every movie, which is fine (suits the movie) but one wonders if she can do anything else. Olivia Wilde is criminally underused as Dave’s beautiful co-worker too, but her and Mann’s scenes are easily the funniest in the movie (I think). A lot of the humour is pretty gross-out – especially the beginning, but being a body swap movie there’s that overwhelming sense of “realising who you are” and “accepting yourself” that doesn’t plague similarly r-rated movies like the Hangover.

After the litany of jokes, the ending is pretty rushed, and wholly predictable – but then, that’s no real surprise. If anything the movie is probably too long, and they could have easily cut out some of the less funny jokes without any problem. Fans of Reynolds and Bateman will certainly get a kick out of it though, and credit where’s it’s due, I was surprised how good they were in their roles. The movie suffers slightly from an uneven tone, not knowing when to be funny and when not to be – or how much time to give characters. Alan Arkin (OSCAR WINNER) has a blink & you’ll miss it role, and it really feels like the movie is more about Dave than Mitch. Still, The Change-Up is a decent summer comedy – by no means the best or the funniest, but no disaster.