subject: Movie Ratings And Reviews - The Switch [print this page] This upcoming movie manages to overcome an almost impossible plot to become a bright, romantic comedy. Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman shine in their lead roles and Jeff Goldblum and Juliette Lewis add another layer of glitz as they play the best friends. However, if the draw of the stars names is not enough, Miramax is going to have a hard time with box office grosses, even if the movies reviews are great.
This has been a year of comedies based on, oddly enough, artificial insemination. Of all of them, including The Back-Up Plan and The Are All Right, Switch has the most implausible plot.
The plot is this: Bateman, who plays Wall Street Exec, Wally, has been hopelessly in love with Kassie (Anistons character) for years. She sees him as just a friend so he cant admit that he loves her to himself or to anyone else. When Kassie decides to find a sperm donor and get pregnant, Wally volunteers. But Kassie wants to pick the perfect sperm donor and turns Wally down.
Okay, now comes the tricky part. The audience is asked to believe that Wally manages to get so drunk on booze and pills that he substitutes his own sperm for the sperm of Roland, the chosen donor. Patrick Wilson is splendid as Roland.
Anyway, back to the story: Kassies best friend Debbie, has an insemination party, and this is where Wally pulls off his little substitution. To make things even better, he is so drunk that he cant remember that he did it.
Fast forward seven years. Kassie has returned to NYC with her son, Sebastian, who is played by Thomas Robinson. Sebastian is neurotic and sees the dark side of everything. As a matter of fact, hes an awful lot like his Uncle Wally. And Uncle Wally is starting to remember things.
Believe it or not, this film has sentimental and touching moments between Wally and Sebastian and great comedic moments as well.
Unfortunately, there isnt a lot of romance in this romance movie. Mostly Wally is neurotic and complaining so scenes between Bateman and Aniston are not all hearts and flowers.
Screenwriter Alan Loeb wrote the script from a short story by the author Jeffrey Eugenides, famous for The Virgin Suicides and Middlesex. Directors Josh Gordon and Will Speck do a better job in the second half of the film than in the first which is a little off-stride. Wally and Kassie also do better in the second half of the film as Wallys fondness for Sebastian appeals to the mother in Kassie.
