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"The Change-Up" is one of the dirtiest-minded mainstream releases in history. It has a low opinion of men, a lower opinion of women, and the lowest opinion of the intelligence of its audience. It is obscene, foulmouthed, scatological, creepy and perverted. As a bonus, it has the shabbiest low-rent main titles I've seen this side of YouTube.

It is a body-switch comedy. You remember those. There must have been dozens. Through some sort of magic, two characters find themselves occupying each other's bodies, or their own bodies at different ages. This can be charming, as when Tom Hanks did it in "Big" (1988) or Jodie Foster in "Freaky Friday" (1976). And remember Francis Coppola's " Peggy Sue Got Married " (1986), with Kathleen Turner becoming herself as a teenager?

To mention such movies in connection with this one is a sacrilege. Putting aside considerations of the story, "The Change-Up" sets out to violate and transgress as many standards of civilized conduct as it can. Don't get me wrong. Faithful readers know I treasure cheerful vulgarity. But readers, I've seen " The Hangover ," and this is no "The Hangover."

Here you will see projectile pooping into faces. Two men exposing themselves and urinating in a "magic fountain" in a shopping mall in the presence of small children. Three tattoo artists closely scrutinizing a woman's vagina. Women systematically required to bare their breasts. Language in which non-obscene words provide an oasis. Best buddies essentially sharing the same wife.

OK, OK. In the context of a different movie, I can imagine all of those things working in a comedy. Except the public pissing. I think we can all agree that's problematical. So let's get back to the bare breasts. There are a great many of them, frequently and roughly fondled, for one reason only, and it isn't eroticism. If it were, I would sympathize. It has to do with the systematic exploitation of every actress in a film where God forbid an actor would be asked to display his penis. (We don't see penises in the urination scene. Only the kids can.)

Now consider the leading characters. They are Mitch ( Ryan Reynolds ), a pothead layabout, and Dave ( Jason Bateman ), an attorney and father of three. They've been best friends since grade school. They envy each other's lives. Through pissing in the fountain, they switch bodies and find out what that would be like.

This involves Mitch, in Dave's body, moving in with Dave's wife, Jamie ( Leslie Mann ), and Dave involved in Mitch's budding career as a porn actor. There is also a key role for Sabrina ( Olivia Wilde ), a legal aide at the law firm, who seduces Dave in the body of Mitch.

Never mind who does what and with which and to whom. The problem is that the movie requires us to accept this premise by making the characters aggressively stupid. Assume for the moment you are Jamie. Two men appearing to be your husband and his buddy Mitch claim their minds are in each other's bodies. They tell you to ask them something the other guy wouldn't know. She asks "Mitch" what "his" wedding anniversary is. Of course he doesn't remember. But asking some men for their wedding anniversary is almost a gotcha! question. For women, a wedding anniversary is as ingrained as New Year's Day. For men, it is more like Easter, and you can never remember what day it falls on this year.

A few more questions, and the testing ends. Mitch and Dave give up and reconcile themselves to their fates. Dave moves into Mitch's bachelor pad. Mitch moves into Dave's suburban home. Say what? If you found your mind in another body, wouldn't that be profoundly disturbing? Would it leave you capable of performing the duties in a movie comedy?

One problem with the movie is that it requires us to remind ourselves constantly which of these two pleasant-looking thirtysomethings is which. Another problem is that no matter which, they are both low and crude beings with no respect for decency, and their language is foul beyond the call of fictional necessity. The film, in fact, seems to go out of its way to be vulgar and offensive, as if "adult" audiences crave such an assault. Anyone who enjoys this film cannot fairly be considered an adult. Pity about the R rating. It will keep out those callow enough to enjoy it.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Film credits.

The Change-Up (2011)

Rated R for pervasive strong crude sexual content and language, some graphic nudity and drug use

112 minutes

Leslie Mann as Jamie Lockwood

Alan Arkin as Mitch's dad

Olivia Wilde as Sabrina McArdle

Jason Bateman as Dave Lockwood

Ryan Reynolds as Mitch Planko

Directed by

David Dobkin
Scott Moore

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The change-up, common sense media reviewers.

Overly crude body-swapping comedy isn't for kids.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Hidden beneath all of the crude comedy is the mess

Dave is hardworking, but he takes his life for gra

Some slapstick scenes involving Dave/Mitch and twi

Nudity in several scenes, including a graphic soft

The first word Dave utters is "f--k," and that set

Product placements aren't distracting, but the guy

Mitch is an avowed pot-head, so bongs, joints, and

Positive Messages

Hidden beneath all of the crude comedy is the message that if you take a hard look at your life, you'll see areas that need improvement and should take the opportunity to better yourself and love your family and friends.

Positive Role Models

Dave is hardworking, but he takes his life for granted -- especially his wife. He also envies his single and responsibility-free friend too much. Mitch isn't a role model at all except for the fact that he can somehow remember details about Dave's life that even his best friend can't recall.

Violence & Scariness

Some slapstick scenes involving Dave/Mitch and twin babies. When Mitch is stuck in Dave's body, the twins end up wielding a knife, almost sticking their hand in a blender, etc. Mitch also encourages Dave's young daughter to "solve all your problems through violence," so she hits her ballet bully. Pregnant Tatiana gets very angry at Mitch and pushes him on his back and threatens him. The guys have to run away from mall security when they pee in a public fountain.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Nudity in several scenes, including a graphic soft-porn movie shoot and a sexual proposition from a woman in late-term pregnancy (viewers see her nearly full frontal, and the baby visibly moves her third-trimester belly). Dave masturbates while in Mitch's body, and both men seem fascinated with the quirks of each other's bodies (Dave has an extra testicle). While in Dave's body, Mitch sees his wife nursing her baby and, later, undressing and then sitting on the toilet while wearing an open robe that shows her breasts. Another woman strips down to her thong and bra and climbs on top of Mitch, but they don't have sex. Candid, potentially vulgar conversations about sex, adultery, sexual positions (they all have humorous names), and experience.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

The first word Dave utters is "f--k," and that sets the tone of the movie. There's not a sentence of dialogue that doesn't include a curse word; even conversations with children include questionable language. In addition to the countless F-bombs, there's "s--t," "a--hole," "p---y," "bitch," "d--k," "whore," "t-ts," "balls," "damn," "hell," "goddamn," and more.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Product placements aren't distracting, but the guys spend a good deal of time in Dave's Range Rover and Mitch's Fiero.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Mitch is an avowed pot-head, so bongs, joints, and other marijuana paraphernalia are shown regularly. Mitch even smokes a joint while driving. The guys also get drunk more than once -- doing shots -- and there's drinking during a few dinner party and date scenes.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that this raunchy body-swapping comedy is more like The Hangover than Freaky Friday . From the opening F-bomb to the end credits, the movie is chock full of language ("f--k" is said in nearly every scene), sexuality (nudity includes breasts, a soft porn movie set, and a fully naked, very pregnant woman), and crass toilet humor. Plus, the movie's themes are actually pretty mature, revolving around two best friends who couldn't be less like each other but secretly envy each other's life. Because it stars two of the funniest actors in Hollywood ( Jason Bateman and Ryan Reynolds ), parents should expect even young teens to be interested, but this movie is definitely a "hard-R" for a reason. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Community Reviews

Parents say (19)
Kids say (20)

Based on 19 parent reviews

I walked (really ran) out and got a refund.

Graphic nudity, what's the story.

Dave ( Jason Bateman ) and Mitch ( Ryan Reynolds ) have been best friends since elementary school, but they couldn't be less alike -- Dave's the father of three and on the brink of becoming a partner at a powerful Atlanta law firm, while Mitch is content to smoke marijuana and juggle a calendar full of low-rent acting gigs and a variety of sexual partners. After getting drunk together at a bar one night, the two men simultaneously pee in a public fountain together while saying "I wish I had your life." The next morning, Mitch wakes up in Dave's body and vice-versa, but when they drive back to the magical fountain, they discover that it's been moved into the bureaucratic mire of the Atlanta Parks Department. Until they can locate the fountain, Mitch has to be pretend to be a successful attorney and devoted father, and Dave has to be a slacker actor with a busy hook-up schedule.

Is It Any Good?

Bateman and Reynolds are undeniably funny, and it's easy to see why this movie would have been easy for the filmmakers to pitch -- great cast, tried-and-true plot device, and tons of hard-R humor. But despite the actors' talent and some big laughs that parents, especially, will appreciate, there's a fine line between raunchy and tasteless, and the plot veers into cringe-worthy toilet humor one too many times to stay consistently amusing.

Casting Reynolds as a hard-core womanizer and Bateman as the straight-edge family man is cliché, and it's clear that each could have played the other's original part with ease. That would have been a welcome switch, as Reynolds has heart and Bateman has edge, which they clearly prove in the moments that they're "themselves" in the other's body. While there's a somewhat touching message about self-reflection and appreciating what you have, the story gets bogged down in the formulaic gross-out humor. Reynolds' Mitch is too pathetically one-dimensional to even believe, and it's hard to feel sorry for Dave when he has an amazing job, a gorgeous wife ( Leslie Mann ), and a million-dollar mansion. That said, if you're in the mood for some blue comedy, you'll definitely get a kick out of Craig Bierko 's hilarious cameo as a soft-porn director. Now there's an actor who deserves a leading comedy role.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about how the movie portrays sexuality . Which relationships are healthy, and which are unhealthy? How can you tell?

What about drinking and drug use? Are they shown realistically? What are some of the real-life consequences of getting drunk and smoking pot?

Dave envies Mitch's carefree life, but is Mitch as fulfilled as Dave? Is freedom from responsibility still as attractive in someone in their late 30s as it is in someone in their 20s? Why is growing up and starting a family depicted as boring?

Movie Details

In theaters : August 5, 2011
On DVD or streaming : November 8, 2011
Cast : Jason Bateman , Leslie Mann , Olivia Wilde , Ryan Reynolds
Director : David Dobkin
Inclusion Information : Female actors
Studio : Universal Pictures
Genre : Comedy
Run time : 112 minutes
MPAA rating : R
MPAA explanation : pervasive strong crude sexual content and language, some graphic nudity and drug use
Last updated : March 10, 2024

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Movie Review | 'The Change-Up'

About That Wish: What if It Came True?

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By Stephen Holden

Aug. 4, 2011

Within the first three minutes of the body-swapping, farcical bromance “The Change-Up,” a gurgling baby boy unleashes a projectile explosion of poop into his daddy’s face during a morning diaper change. That muddy moment tells you exactly where you’ll be during the movie’s next hundred-plus minutes: toddling back and forth between the toilet and a sandbox stocked with inflatable sex dolls.

The bodies swapped belong to the daddy, Dave Lockwood (Jason Bateman), and his bachelor buddy, Mitch Planko ( Ryan Reynolds ). They have been best friends since third grade, though the movie offers no indication of any underlying kinship. A successful corporate lawyer in Atlanta, gunning for a partnership, Dave is a dour workaholic with an attractive, high-strung wife, Jamie (Leslie Mann), and three young children. He is so uptight that he blanches when a colleague raises an eyebrow over his necktie’s double Windsor knot.

Mitch, an unemployed actor whose major credit is a role in a bologna commercial, is an extreme caricature of what used to be called a “toxic bachelor.” Still, he has no dearth of ravenous partners. It is a perfect role for Mr. Reynolds, Hollywood’s ranking male bimbo, whose infantile Mitch is so vacantly chirpy that he remains blissfully unaware that his lustful, foul-mouthed remarks to women might be the tiniest bit offensive.

Kvetching about their petty discontents one drunken evening while urinating side by side into a public fountain, Dave and Mitch declare that they would like to live each other’s lives. With a lightning flash, Atlanta momentarily blacks out. When the lights return, the brooding expression on the face of the fountain’s statue has become a smirk.

The next morning they discover that their idle wish has come true. When Dave turns to the mirror, he sees Mitch, and vice versa. Discovering that the magic fountain has been removed, they panic. Until it is restored in a new location, they’re stuck.

The body-swapping premise, which is stale to begin with, isn’t explored with any depth, unless you find meaningful Freudian subtext in the movie’s relentless anal fixation. But the premise at least sets up a farce that surpasses “The Hangover” in gleeful crudeness and profanity. The similarities between the two movies aren’t coincidental: Jon Lucas and Scott Moore have written both. David Dobkin , the director of “The Change-Up,” is best known for “Wedding Crashers.”

Once inside Dave’s body, Mitch is a criminally careless surrogate father who plunks his twin babies on a kitchen counter, where they clutch at knives and meat cleavers, reach into food processors, and explore electrical outlets. To Jamie’s chagrin, her husband advises their oldest daughter to lash back at a bullying fellow ballet student. “Violence is good,” he declares. Jamie has no idea what has happened to him. She knows only that something is terribly wrong.

Mitch, in inappropriate golf clothes, swaggers into Dave’s law firm, where he derails a deal with a high-powered Japanese company with his frat-boy language and joshing racism. But he does manage to make a promising connection with Sabrina (Olivia Wilde), a luscious legal associate.

Dave, cowering inside Mitch’s body, auditions for a “lorn” (light pornography) movie and is instructed to do nasty things to its grotesque, surgically altered female star.

The big questions: Will Mitch, who has always secretly coveted Jamie, have his way with her? And in the end, whose penis belongs to whom?

Mr. Bateman and Mr. Reynolds play together reasonably well, although their age difference (Mr. Reynolds is several years younger) is glaring. If both are adept comedians, neither has the wherewithal to begin to impersonate the other’s body language and thereby raise the farce to a higher comic level.

Inevitably succumbing to schmaltz, “The Change-Up” turns cloying in its perfunctory later scenes, in which each friend comes away from the ordeal having absorbed useful life lessons while in the body of his polar opposite. No matter how diligently “The Change-Up” scrubs itself, it leaves behind a faint if unmistakable scent from its initial eruption.

“The Change-Up,” is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). It includes nudity, relentless profanity and scatological humor.

THE CHANGE-UP

Opens on Friday nationwide.

Directed by David Dobkin; written by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore; director of photography, Eric Edwards; edited by Lee Haxall and Greg Hayden; music by John Debney; production design by Barry Robison; costumes by Betsy Heimann; produced by Mr. Dobkin and Neal H. Moritz; released by Universal Pictures. Running time: 1 hour 45 minutes.

WITH: Ryan Reynolds (Mitch), Jason Bateman (Dave), Leslie Mann (Jamie), Olivia Wilde (Sabrina) and Alan Arkin (Mitch’s Dad).

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The Change-Up Reviews

There’s an audience that will go bananas over such a low-effort comedy, but only if they’re in the mood for shock-based and intentionally offensive humor.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Mar 9, 2023

Jumps right into bizarre, foul humor to lure audiences in with pure shock.

Full Review | Original Score: 6/10 | Nov 30, 2020

The sad thing here is that there's a terrific film trying to find its way to the surface.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/4.0 | Sep 5, 2020

A gross-out comedy that masquerades as a tale about finding one's true place in life.

Full Review | Original Score: C- | Aug 5, 2020

No longer will bros have to wonder what it would be like if two dudes, two dudes with polar opposite personalities and lives, switched places with each other for a short time!

Full Review | Original Score: C | Jul 11, 2020

For audiences in need of a boost, "God Bless the Broken Road" might offer just enough of a payoff to justify a few rough patches.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Sep 7, 2018

Reynolds tries and if you find him or this sort of teen-bop movie appealing, you may find something to enjoy. If you're repulsed by both, I suggest avoiding Dobkin's latest effort like the plague.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Aug 24, 2018

Although the lack of originality of the concept really brings down its appeal, audiences will enjoy watching this recycled story unfold with the two newest performances.

Full Review | Original Score: B- | Sep 8, 2017

If you still enjoy the sort of bathroom humor that had you in hysterics back in grade school, this movie delivers those juvenile gags (in every sense of the word) in droves.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/4 | Sep 1, 2017

R-rated comedies these days, like 'The Hangover' and 'Bad Santa,' employ a relentless bombardment of cheap, gross toilet humor and nonstop cursing -- because it usually works.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Jul 15, 2016

A disappointing body-switch comedy...

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Feb 27, 2015

Cynical, tone-deaf junk that has nothing to contribute to the world but smirks and a general dismissive attitude toward human connection and interaction.

Full Review | Original Score: D+ | Jun 22, 2013

The Change-Up is a comedy that can't find it's proper place in the demographic of anyone by freakishly pushing the boundaries of taste.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/10 | Feb 28, 2013

Overlong and overly obvious

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Jan 14, 2013

It's easy to recommend The Change-Up for its over-the-top laughs and a pair of solid leads that succeed in offering a raunchy twist on a familiar formula.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 2, 2012

A foul misfire that favors sex and gross-out gags over its somewhat affecting plot about married life and single life, and the sacrifices we all make for one or the other.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/10 | Jan 29, 2012

The finale is shockingly flat, everything petering out in such a forgettable and joyless manner the effect is frustrating.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Jan 27, 2012

The key to the film is the chemistry between Reynolds and Bateman, who work off each other but can also be very funny in their own scenes.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jan 22, 2012

Luckily (Bateman and Reynolds') comic timing is convincing, otherwise this would be a total waste of time.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jan 3, 2012

The posters promise a film from the director of Wedding Crashers (David Dobkin) and the writers of The Hangover (Jon Lucas/Scott Moore). Pure rubbish ( ... ) would have been more accurate.

Full Review | Original Score: 0/5 | Sep 25, 2011

International edition
Australia edition
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The Change-Up – review

I n the Farrelly brothers' startlingly depressing comedy Hall Pass, one man broods on the fact that no one told him getting married would not efface the perennial secret need to "rub one out in the bathroom". That line came back to me watching this body-swap formula comedy starring Jason Bateman and Ryan Reynolds as two buddies: Dave and Mitch. One's a frustrated married guy with a lovely family, the other a carefree single ladies' man with no shackles but no purpose. Secretly they envy each other's lives, and one stormy night weird karmic forces switch their identities. There are a few tired laughs to be had, but it is mostly predictable. What isn't quite so predictable is the wish-fulfilment granted to Dave. Getting the single guy's existence allows him not to womanise but to masturbate in glorious solitude and comfort. The cares of career and marriage had also been playing havoc with his digestion, and so we also see him on the lavatory, enjoying an ecstatically liberated dump, while reading Jonathan Franzen's Freedom. Cute choice.

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‘the change-up’.

FILM REVIEW: Body-switch movie delivers some laughs but regresses into adolescent behavior and telegraphs every move.

By Kirk Honeycutt

Kirk Honeycutt

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Jason Bateman has his hands full after the body swap.

Other than Big in 1988 and the two Freaky Friday films, body-switching comedies rarely pan out. All those plot mechanics and far-out magic, just to deliver a foregone conclusion that the grass isn’t necessarily greener … yada, yada, yada. The Change-Up bravely attempts to revive the dormant subgenre, but it’s a lame effort that grows increasingly frantic and foul-mouthed as the realization sets in that the gimmick isn’t working.

With Ryan Reynolds, Jason Bateman, the lovely Leslie Mann and current “It” girl Olivia Wilde co-starring, the Universal film should enjoy a solid opening and might wind up with the positive box-office numbers of Bateman’s other R-rated comedy this summer, Horrible Bosses .

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'The Change-Up' Movie Review: One Of The Summer's Best Comedies

In the race for best comedy of the summer, The Change-Up gives Bridesmaids a run for its money. It has all the laughs that were missing from The Hangover Part II , all the over-the-top crudeness that was missing from Horrible Bosses , all the life-lessons and heartwarming moments that were missing from Bad Teacher and puts them together in a nice, comfortable package. And while the cliched idea of a body switch comedy might not seem appealing on the surface, director David Dobkin keeps things interesting by pacing the film like a runaway train. Super-charged by two perfect lead performances by Jason Bateman and Ryan Reynolds , The Change-Up can be wildly uneven at times, but somehow manages to balance it all out in a way that's both satisfying and hilarious. Read more after the jump.

When we think of great body switch films we think of Big . We think of Freaky Friday . And now we'll think of The Change-Up . Jason Bateman is Dave, a workaholic with a good heart who never has a moment to himself being a big time lawyer, husband and father of three. Then there's his childhood friend Mitch, played by Ryan Reynolds. He's single, kind of a loser, but good-looking and a real ladies man. They're polar opposites and, once that's all established in about 15 minutes, they pee in a magic fountain and wake up in each other's bodies.

At first, it's a bit confusing as to who is playing which character. We're so used to seeing Reynolds as a Van Wilder-type and Bateman as a Michael Bluth-type, that the swap is initially awkward. The joy of The Change-Up , though, is seeing each actor play the other's trademark style with such vibrancy. We always get to see Reynolds play the abrasive, outgoing, party guy, but when does Bateman ever get that chance? Unless he's a Teen Wolf, of course. And we always get to see Bateman play the stuck-up straight man but when is Reynolds ever the responsible one? Unless he's carrying a gun.

So you have two characters that, just by going against the grain, are instantly engaging and the film immediately puts them in raunchy, uncomfortable and offensive situations. Babies in danger, flying excrement, gratuitous nudity, urination and masturbation are all par for the course. There's no question this is a hard-R rated movie. But once the characters, audience, and screenwriters Jon Lucas and Scott Moore have their fun, the story slowly begins to transition into something more. Work becomes a real problem for Dave and Mitch. Family issues come to the forefront and each is forced to forget about the dumb stuff and get serious. The movie mirrors this change and its gradual transition of tone is handled with the utmost care and respect.

A lot of that is thanks to the strong females in the film. Leslie Mann , as Dave's wife, and Olivia Wilde , as Dave's crush, both are given a lot of rope to play with to create round, believable characters. Sure, each is forced to be naked (kind of) at certain points, but the confidence of each performance grounds the movie when it starts to veer over the line.

If you're looking for negatives, the film definitely has some. Dobkin uses more CG than he probably should to show the human body in very unnatural ways. There are scenes that feel excessive and nutty. Plus, let's face it, the idea of these characters pulling off each others lives is completely laughable. But, somehow, the script and the actors make it work by presenting characters that are relatable, flawed – most importantly – funny.

People are surely going to scoff at how The Change-Up effortlessly transitions between tones and at times goes too far for a laugh. However, I like a movie that swings for the fences. Despite its traditional dress, The Change-Up is incredibly risky and, ultimately, incredibly great.

/Film rating: 8 out of 10

Screen Rant

'the change-up' review.

With Ryan Reynolds and Jason Bateman playing against type, does 'The Change-Up' deliver a fresh take on a tired premise?

Screen Rant's Ben Kendrick reviews The Change-Up

Can a film that relies on a tired premise and formulaic execution still deliver an enjoyable time at the theater - as well as turn a decent box office profit? That's the challenge facing director David Dobkin's ( Wedding Crashers ) latest film, The Change-Up , starring Ryan Reynolds and Jason Bateman.

For anyone unfamiliar The Change-Up , the comedy is an updated (and raunchier) take on the traditional Freaky Friday premise of a 'grass is greener' body-switch that forces two people to appreciate their own lives by experiencing the other side. In Freaky Friday , the body-hopping protagonists are mother and daughter; however, in The Change-Up , the switch occurs between hard-working father of three, Dave Lockwood (Jason Bateman) and lackadaisical ladies man Mitch Planko (Ryan Reynolds), via urination in a magic fountain. Over the course of the film, the two are forced to confront their own insecurities and faults, as well as juggle the day-to-day challenges of their borrowed life - all the while searching for a magic fountain to piss in in order to break the spell.

As mentioned, it's an especially familiar formula - but, with Bateman and Reynolds playing against type, some genuinely entertaining hijinks ensue. It's an interesting and tricky balance, but the two leading men manage to draw from their own familiar strengths and simultaneously inject enough of their respective co-star to play to the premise: a comedy set-piece involving babies, kitchen appliances, and an expletive-spewing Bateman is especially effective - as is a movie-shoot scene that features an uncharacteristically timid Reynolds. While plenty of jokes center around the various "fish out of water" encounters in the film, there is an unexpected but thoughtful pair of character arcs included to complement the laughs.

Even when Bateman and Reynolds don't always succeed in capturing the nuances of the other man, The Change-Up manages to breath some intriguing depth and surprisingly emotional performances into what is one of the raunchier comedies of the year. For all the poop jokes (yes there's more than one) and awkward sexual encounters, there's a handful of moments that successfully depict the gravity of what is at stake for the disembodied protagonists.

Leslie Mann delivers a number of strong moments that, couched in between fart jokes, successfully convey the decomposition of the Lockwood's marriage - which Planko (who is a habitual quitter) must hold together. Similarly, Olivia Wilde offers a charming performance as paralegal Sabrina McArdle, who works under Lockwood and serves as "forbidden fruit" throughout the film - forcing Lockwood to wrestle with his moral compass (while exploiting the anonymity of Planko's body).

Given the familiar premise, the only real surprises in the film come as a result of the shock-value approach to humor. While a number of awkward character exchanges will warrant a chuckle here and there (because the performances are solid) - only when the film enthusiastically crosses the line, into Hangover -esque absurdity, will moviegoers really get a chance to laugh. Some of the over-the-top jokes are less successful than others - but most offer a cathartic release after laughing nervously at the parade of uncomfortable situations the characters find themselves in. That said, audience members who are turned-off by raunchy, and potentially offensive, humor will likely find little to like in The Change-Up .

As mentioned, despite the shock-value surprises in The Change-Up , ultimately the film is still hindered by its premise - since the film is just going through the same motions as the myriad of Freaky Friday clones that came before it (and will after). The progression from scene to scene is distractingly predictable - in addition to a plot that's easy to trace from A to B to C. The Change-Up is also overly-long.

The protagonists waffle (at least) one too many times - meaning that the audience is actually forced to follow a predictable plot from A to B to C to D. Similarly, while the emotional climax of the film is surprisingly effective - the resulting aftermath is, unfortunately, pretty cliche - in an attempt to clean-up all the loose ends.

It's easy to recommend The Change-Up for all the over-the-top laughs and a pair of solid leads that succeed in offering a raunchy twist on a familiar formula. However, there's no doubt that same familiar formula holds the film back in a number of ways - resulting in an above average theater experience that's far from original.

If you’re still on the fence about The Change-Up , check out the trailer below:

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THE CHANGE-UP Review

The Change-Up review. Matt reviews David Dobkin's The Change-Up starring Jason Bateman, Ryan Reynolds, Leslie Mann, Olivia Wilde, and Alan Arkin.

The body-switching comedy is a silly concept which is why it's been resigned to family films. Two people who don't understand each other's lives switch bodies through magical means and are given new appreciation for what the other does. The Change-Up turns that concept on its head by re-setting it into a raunchy, gross-out R-rated film and making the characters look inward at to what they're missing in their own lives rather than appreciating the person whose form they've taken. The result is a film that's painfully funny, quickly forgettable, and a little bit mean.

Dave (Jason Bateman) is a workaholic who is about to make partner in his law firm and isn't spending enough time with his kids and his hot wife Jamie (Leslie Mann). His life-long friend Mitch (Ryan Reynolds) is a man-child who can't go more than ten seconds without uttering something foul-mouthed and/or outrageously offensive. The two have been growing apart and go for a guy's night out where they each voice their envy for the other's life. They piss in a magic fountain and wake up in the other's body. All of the appointments set up in the first 15 minutes (The big presentation! My Tuesday night fuck-fest!) along with the personal problems (My marriage has grown cold! I don't like my dad!) must then be handled as the two try to track down the magic fountain.

When The Change-Up makes delivering laughs its single-minded focus, it works. It's the it goes for the biggest gross-out gags of the year and it knows that child endangerment is always good for a chuckle. The film's real gift is unleashing Jason Bateman. Too often cast as the straight man, Bateman's small roles in Smokin Aces and State of Play have shown what he can do when given the chance to go crazy with a character and he finally gets his chance with The Change-Up . It's not surprising that Bateman could play such a vulgar character but it's delightful to see him to do it so well. The trade-off is that Reynolds has to play the more subdued, sarcastic character and he does a fine job with it, but he's Mr. Nice Guy and the movie can't find many laughs for him nor can the movie find much to do with his character.

Mitch has a clear arc: A guy who has never truly committed himself to anything has to man-up and show his father (played by Alan Arkin and the character is in no way a jerk so it's hard to understand why Mitch hates him so much) and Dave that he can be the best fake lawyer and fake father of all time. Dave, on the other hand, just wants a vacation from the stresses of married life and fatherhood. The possibility of sleeping with his hot co-worker Sabrina (Olivia Wilde) is also in the cards, but since Dave constantly professes his love for his family, we all know he's not going to boink Sabrina and all of the humor from those scenes don't come from the jokes but from Reynolds' delivery.

It's in trying to find the drama where The Change-Up falls out of its comfort zone and shifts that discomfort on to the audience. There's a second film happening inside of The Change-Up and it stars Leslie Mann as an incredibly unhappy woman who is truly suffering. Mann's terrific and you'll care more about her character than anyone else in the film. But while it's okay for Mitch and Dave to be absolute jerks to each other (that's how us dudes role, apparently), the movie can be brutal towards Jamie like one point where, after she has some explosive diarrhea and then comes to bed, Mitch chastises her for coming in "guns hot" and tells her that she's not attractive to him. Later on Jamie pours her heart out to Dave (he's inside Mitch's body) and it's equally heart-wrenching and Reynolds and Mann play it like a straight drama.

The majority of mainstream comedies pause for these moments of character development and emotional drama, but The Change-Up 's swing into these moments takes the meanness and crassness of the comedy and resets it into a place where you suddenly don't feel as good about laughing as you once did. It's one thing to chastise these characters for their behavior, but it's another to chastise the audience for laughing at their antics.

David Dobkin, screenwriters Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, and Bateman and Reynolds (who were given the room to play around with their own dialogue) know their comedy when it comes to grossing out the audience and providing some brilliantly filthy dialogue. They've also got top-notch actors with Bateman, Reynolds, and Mann. But when the movie decides that the body-switching concept that was too stupid to take seriously in the first place must now yield honest emotions and character drama, it leaves the humor behind and then The Change-Up has to struggle to get us back to a place where we can laugh at a naked Jason Bateman charging into a room and raving about his taint.

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DVD & Streaming

The Change-Up

Content caution.

In Theaters

August 5, 2011
Ryan Reynolds as Mitch; Justin Bateman as Dave; Olivia Wilde as Sabrina; Leslie Mann as Jamie; Alan Arkin as Mitch's Father

Home Release Date

November 8, 2011
David Dobkin

Distributor

Universal Pictures

Movie Review

To say that lifelong friends Mitch and Dave lead merely different lives is to say that apples and fire hydrants are vaguely dissimilar items. No, Mitch and Dave have massively , poles apart, contradictory lifestyles. Man-child Mitch’s world is full of daily recreational debauchery and as many joints as he can smoke between low-life acting auditions. As his father says, his accomplishments can be easily held on a single eyelash. Married, hardworking pillar of the community Dave, however, has three adorable kids, a beautiful wife (whom he never sees because he’s always working) and a successful law career that he’s strived for all his life.

But human beings have been jealous for silly reasons since nearly the dawn of time, and, naturally, each man wants what the other has. So let’s just cut to the chase—which is exactly what the film does—and register the obvious: They switch lives.

Suddenly their wildest—and most sexually perverted—dreams are possible. Mitch can have a family, a real career and , he thinks, the conquest of Dave’s sexy wife, Jamie. Dave can take up with Mitch’s weekly harem and have guiltless sex with every nameless one of them. Not to mention the fact that he can goof off, get high and watch porn whenever he wants.

Positive Elements

All this frivolous “freedom” doesn’t come without severe consequence, of course. And each man gets a rude awakening regarding the other’s life—and his own. So while all moviegoers get is a foul, fetid and rotten flick, Mitch and Dave gradually learn that they’re grateful for the blessings they didn’t recognize they had.

Dave truly begins to cherish Jamie and his children for the first time in years. Discovering how distraught Jamie is over his inattention, he’s heartbroken and works to change his workaholic behavior and nurture her. Mitch sees that he hasn’t earned the accolades Dave receives while Mitch is in his body—which means he’s inspired to work harder.

(The big asterisk to this positivity is twofold. 1) The quite literally obscene content surrounding it. 2) The fact that the feel-good ending, which puts each man back in his own life, makes nary a moral mumble about the life Mitch is going back to.)

Spiritual Elements

The closest these guys get to spirituality is talking about convincing Catholic schoolgirls to give up their virginity. Oh, and both men thank God once they have their own lives back. I’ll let you decide whether they’re really sincere or not.

Sexual Content

In frantically trying to record The Change-Up’ s extensive sexual content, my pen began to smoke within the first 20 minutes or so of this two-hour film. The majority of that noted material I will now attempt to summarize—because actually documenting it play by play would be unthinkable … and unreadable. When Dave (as Mitch) shows up for a “lorno” film shoot (“light” porn, which is called a “growth industry”), we see him simulating sex acts with a topless actress. Before the lengthy scene wraps, dialogue, images and sound effects have introduced intercourse, anal fingering and a ménage à trois.

Later, a very pregnant woman strips down to a g-string and tries to have sex with Dave (still in Mitch’s body). The baby can be seen kicking within her swollen abdomen, and he’s horrified. But not so horrified that he doesn’t “play along” for a while. And his lingering compliance pushes even more explicit sexual images onto the screen.

Mitch (as Dave) is seen nude from the front, clutching his genitals. Jamie reveals her breasts to the camera while getting ready for bed and while on the toilet. Dave’s co-worker, Sabrina, shows off her legs while getting a tattoo near her genitals. She also bares her breasts for Dave (as Mitch) while trying to seduce him. Masturbation (methods and motivations) is mentioned frequently (including in front of children). We see snippets of the porn Dave watches while he masturbates (his hand just out of the frame). We hear an intimate story about a woman’s vibrator. And the tattoo scene is structured to make moviegoers think they’re watching Sabrina use one.

Dave is fascinated by Mitch’s “romantic” life and asks him to tell all about it. Mitch happily obliges, filling in the raunchy details, listing all the exotic sexual positions that he says Dave isn’t familiar with because he’s married. It’s said that every man has a “cancer list”—a list of all the women he would have sex with if his wife died of cancer. And we hear lots of discussion about whether or not it would be cheating for Dave (as Mitch) to have sex with women other than his wife. The conclusion? Nah.

Dave, however, subconsciously and hypocritically recognizes how odious this is and warns Mitch not to have sex with Jamie. Dave’s definition of marriage? No sex with other women and no sex with your wife either. Mitch doesn’t care; he’s eager for a romp with Jamie anyway—until he sees her use the bathroom. Then he wants nothing to do with her.

Jamie tells the family’s teenage babysitter about her sex life because she has no one else to talk to. Mitch mentions having had a semester’s worth of sex as a teen with one of his high school teachers. There’s talk (some of it graphic) about swapping sexual partners, penis size, shaved genitalia, tampons, condoms, oral sex, anal sex, homosexuality, pedophilia, “eye rape,” losing one’s virginity, pole dancing and how unsexy breast-feeding is. Note that we also see Jamie breast-feed, and we watch, from the waist up, when Mitch (as Dave) shaves Dave (as Mitch).

Violent Content

Mitch (in Dave’s body) teaches Dave’s grade school-age daughter, Kara, that bullying a bully is commendable—that “violence is cool.” When another little girl continues to trip Kara at ballet class, Mitch tells her to make a shiv and kill the girl and her family. Kara eventually throws down the little girl during a recital, and Mitch stands up and cheers.

One of Dave and Jamie’s twins (still an infant) has a habit of violently banging his head against his crib’s rails. While in the care of Mitch (as Dave), the babies are nearly a) electrocuted, b) mutilated by a blender and c) cut with knives after he deposits the two tikes on the kitchen counter. One of the babies throws a meat cleaver that almost hits Mitch.

Jamie hits and slaps Mitch and Dave repeatedly. Mitch (in Dave’s body) tries to choke Dave (in Mitch’s body) and gouge out his eyes with his fingers. The “lorno” director vulgarly threatens Dave. Jamie says she’ll hurt Dave if he doesn’t get out of bed and feed the babies. A suicidal bullet to the head and slitting throats are referenced.

Crude or Profane Language

The third word spoken in this film is an f-word. About 100 more follow it. There are 20-25 s-words. God’s name is abused 30-plus times; it’s coupled with “d‑‑n” a half-dozen times. Christ’s name is misused around 10 times. There’s a handful each of “h‑‑‑,” “b‑‑tard,” “p‑‑‑,” “d‑‑k,” “b‑‑ch,” “p‑‑‑y,” “t-tty,” “c‑‑k,” “a‑‑” and “douche bag.”

Drug and Alcohol Content

Shots of hard liquor take the fore. Mitch smokes several joints, including while driving. Other drug use is mentioned and a bong is seen. Dave says he longs to get high all day just like Mitch.

Other Negative Elements

Because Dave was more responsible in his twenties than Mitch, Dave feels that he wasted his own youth. He says he wishes he had done more drugs and bedded more women and made more bad choices.

We see Dave’s infant son defecate (profusely) into Dave’s face and mouth. A half-dressed Jamie loudly defecates on a toilet. Dave (as Mitch) is also seen and heard in the bathroom. Onscreen, Dave and Mitch urinate twice. Once it’s in public with children watching. And both times, the camera watches them from the front.

Mitch calls Dave’s kids “retarded” and “a little Downsy.” Several racist statements about Jews and Japanese are made.

The Change-Up director David Dobkin told traileraddict.com , “The married [lifestyle]. … It’s hard. It’s frustrating. It’s like, we’re both fortunate, we’re like kinda half living the fairytale and half like, Oh my god, it’s so hard , right? So it’s like the whole arc of the movie is about being grateful for what you have and being able to see what’s right in front of your doorstep. And I think that’s the challenge all the time. I mean, I think that’s the whole core story of the movie.”

Well, not so much, really. Dobkin does take audiences to a couple of briefly thoughtful places. But to call pint-sized, tacked-on, paint-by-number “inspirations” the core story and whole arc of the movie is, at the very least, a gross overstatement. “Respect my life,” both men command each other. But what they can’t see is the fact that they haven’t even respected their own. And their story certainly doesn’t respect its audience. It was written by the same crew that proffered The Hangover and directed by the guy who helmed Wedding Crashers . So never mind that its ethos is stolen from a dozen other films—from Freaky Friday to The Family Man to Vice Versa — The Change-Up naturally serves up a decidedly (hard) R-rated (gagging) blend of obscenity and perversion not quite tempered by a tiny dash of sensitivity.

Dobkin also told Trailer Addict , “This script went really far, so we went really far with the script. It gives you a lot of freedom. I think the biggest playground for comedy right now seems to be the R-rated genre and I think that’s just because the characters are more fully expressed and it’s less canned and a little bit more … realistic. People talk the way they really talk, they can behave the way they want to behave.”

He thinks that’s a good thing. You already know what I think.

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Movie Review: The Change-Up (2011)

General Disdain
Movie Reviews
2 responses
--> August 16, 2011

Let’s cut to the chase — Olivia Wilde is a beautifully packaged woman and plays a part in many man’s fantasies. Even mine on occasion. But if you were hoping to see her naked in The Change-Up , you won’t (before she became a hot Hollywood commodity, she delivered the goods in “ Alpha Dog ”). There is a moment, however, where you think it might happen — your senses tingle and the palms get clammy — but it doesn’t materialize. (The shot of her ass in Brazilian cut panties will have to do, although I’m not wholly convinced that it isn’t a body double). But don’t despair completely. There is another attractive actress — not quite on the level of Ms. Wilde — who does show some skin. Thank you for picking up the slack, Leslie Mann.

There’s a bunch of other naked chicks making their way in and out of The Change-Up too. And they’re all used for shock value with varying levels of success.

So too, is the massive level of vulgarity. It’s these two “adult” level differentiators that separate this movie from other body swap movies like “Face/Off,” “The Hot Chick” and “18 Again!.”

Dave Lockwood (Jason Bateman, “ Hancock ”) has dedicated his life to succeed at work and as a consequence has put his lovely wife Jamie (Mann) and children on the backburner. Mitch Planko (Ryan Reynolds, “ Waiting . . . ”) is a womanizing slacker not having worked a single honest day in his life. In real life these guys wouldn’t be friends, hell, a guy like Dave would actively avoid a guy like Mitch. But, for the purpose of setting up the perfect scenario for a body swap movie, these guys are lifelong buds. And true to form, while crossing piss streams in a fountain, the slacker finds he now has to accept responsibility and the workaholic must now learn how to let go and smell the roses.

This leads to some memorable and some not so memorable moments. Memorable: Dave in Mitch’s body meeting Tatiana for a night of debauchery and Mitch in Dave’s body fouling up an important contract negotiation. Not so memorable: Dave in Mitch’s body performing in a softcore porn flick and Mitch in Dave’s body doing diaper duty for the first time. The most fun is derived from the chemistry of the two leads and the flip from their normal personas. Bateman can be counted on to play the low-key “everyday guy,” so his shift to saying “fuck” every other word and acting flippant was a welcome change and one that looked on screen that he enjoyed doing it. We’re used to seeing Reynolds behave like an asshole (his career is built upon it) and we know he has the chops to be serious (“ Buried ”) but seeing him struggle as he tries to conform to accepted behaviors generated a few good laughs on its own. Together they make an effective team, although I could have done without 75/80 jokes about the size, look and feel of each others’ dicks.

Even the supporting characters, generally good for throw away screen time, are given something to sink their teeth into by writers Jon Lucas and Scott Moore. Olivia Wilde, as Dave’s object of desire, is more than just eye candy (though she looks really, really good) — her character balances a strict male dominated professional life with her sexually aggressive independence. And Leslie Mann, famously known for her throw up scene in “ The 40 Year Old Virgin ,” gets in a few dramatic scenes to go along with her soon to be famous Thai food toilet scene.

The Change-Up , while being predictable in nearly every way, still manages to land itself on the “good body swapping flick” pile. It’s also a damn good addition to the “R-rated, raunchy, vulgar movies that are now a mainstay in today’s cinema” pile.

Tagged: actor , friends , lawyer , marriage , relationships

I'm an old, miserable fart set in his ways. Some of the things that bring a smile to my face are (in no particular order): Teenage back acne, the rain on my face, long walks on the beach and redneck women named Francis. Oh yeah, I like to watch and criticize movies.

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'Movie Review: The Change-Up (2011)' have 2 comments

October 19, 2011 @ 5:16 am Lateisha

I found myslef nodding my noggin all the way through.

February 11, 2013 @ 10:58 pm poon

Olivia Wilde is super hot in this flick.

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The Change-Up Movie Review

Sometimes, Change is Good By Todd A. Smith Everyone has a friend that is the exact opposite of them. One may be the player who has women chasing after him daily. On the contrary, the other may be the family man with a stable but unexciting lifestyle. Despite one’s personality, all have secretly yearned for the lifestyle of their polar opposite and in The Change-Up movie, Ryan Reynolds and Jason Bateman’s wishes become a reality. Dave Lockwood (Bateman) has what most men eventually want, a successful career, which happens to be at a law firm, a beautiful wife (Leslie Mann) and three energetic children. What he struggles with are the responsibilities of balancing both his professional and personal lives successfully. Mitch Planko (Reynolds) has absolutely no responsibilities whatsoever. Much to his father’s dismay, he dropped out of high school to pursue the art of acting and the art of blazing joints of marijuana. Despite his “dedication” to the arts, he has only managed to land roles in low budget commercials and “lornos,” which are light pornographic films. However, he is only truly dedicated to the ladies, even going to Lamaze classes just to get the opportunity to sleep with a sexually promiscuous young lady who happens to be nine months pregnant. While relieving themselves at a downtown Atlanta fountain, Mitch and Dave secretly wishes for each other’s lives and like the old cliché goes,” be careful what you wish for, because you just may get it.” The two wake up the next morning in the other’s home and they quickly realize that they have taken on the appearance of the other and must maintain this charade because no one close to them would ever believe that something this absurd could ever take place. The Change-Up movie could have easily been an absurd movie that garnered a couple of chuckles, but audiences will be very surprised that The Change-Up movie is actually good and extremely hilarious. Just think about it. Would you want your womanizing, unemployed, weed smoking friend to masquerade as a lawyer, a husband to your wife and a father to your impressionable children? The answer is probably no. Furthermore, if you were successful with the ladies, would you want your uptight, conservative friend who has not been on a date in a decade, pretending to be you in a porno? Most people would answer no to this question as well. Nevertheless, that is exactly what you get for two funny hours with The Change-Up movie. In The Change-Up movie, you get a weed-head telling a little girl that violence is good and she should attack her bully, although her real father teaches her to search for a “verbal resolution.” In addition, you get a conservative father who is apprehensive about sticking his finger up the backside of a woman that is not his wife. By being someone else for an extended period of time, the two friends finally realize the constructive criticism that has been directed towards them from loved ones is actually sincere, and they have to make significant changes before they lose it all. Mitch realizes that though people like his personality, they consider him a quitter who never sees things to fruition. Dave came from a background of financial struggles to become a partner at a very prestigious law firm. And while his wife fell in love with his ambition, she does not think that the job should come before their marriage. The Change-Up movie in essence, changes up their lives for the better, making them better men in the process and men comfortable in their own skin. REGAL RATINGS FOUR CROWNS=EXCELLENT THREE CROWNS=GOOD TWO CROWNS=AVERAGE ONE CROWN=POOR Smith is publisher of Regal Black Men’s Magazine , a publication dedicated to the African American community.

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The Change-Up - Movie Review

{2jtab: Movie Review}

The body-swap flick gets a raunchy R-rated makeover in David Dobkins’ The Change-up , a film that fails to counter its smutty better half with anything other than schmaltzy, sentimental hogwash. So, instead of Wedding Crashers meets Freaky Friday , we get Judd Apatow does 18 Again .

We’ve seen this movie before. But like a crackhead looking for another fix, Hollywood revisits. Two people spend a day in each other’s shoes, awkward situations follow, lessons are learned, then real identities are reassumed. Excuse me, this is where I came in. Screenwriters Jon Lucas and Scott Moore know we’ve been down this road before, but their attempted spin on the genre – a hard-R rating – falls miserably short in a heap of cgi baby poop and failed sensitivity.

Following a night of drunken reminiscing and a bromantic declaration – while peeing in a public fountain - of how much they envy each other’s life, bong-hitting slacker Mitch (Ryan Reynolds) and family man power-attorney Dave (Jason Bateman) roll out of bed the next day and realize their ill-conceived dream has come true. But despite the newfound freedom from their normal routines and habits, the guys soon discover that each other’s lives are nowhere near as rosy as they seemed the night before.

Further complicating matters are Dave’s suspicious wife Jamie, (Leslie Mann), his sexy co-worker Sabrina (Olivia Wilde) and Mitch’s estranged father (Alan Arkin). Mann is basically the same character from her 40-year-old Virgin and Knocked Up roles, as at ease with knocking down edgy zingers as she is at crumbling into a heap of tears. Wilde is Dave’s forbidden fruit who suddenly becomes irresistibly “available” after the change-up. Arkin is sorely misused as Mitch’s loveable but acerbic father who comes down on Mitch for basically wasting his life away. He shows up at the beginning and end of the film making us wonder if his other scenes were left on the cutting room floor.

Most body-swap comedies have found success in the comedy gold to be mined from characters of different ages that swap bodies, spend most of their time apart, and then gain a greater appreciation of each other before changing back. But the gimmick here is that Mitch and Dave are grown men of the same age. This provides Dobkin with a fertile, carnal playground, which he uses to the fullest with excrement sight gags, homophobe jokes, potty-mouthed dialogue and plenty of nudity. Mitch and Dave frequently consult each other on unfamiliar topics such as booty calls, diaper changes, and how often Dave’s wife likes to have sex.

Dobkin and company want us to believe they’re going somewhere different with this one. And initially, it feels like they are. After all, we can’t think of another film where the act of pissing in the fountain of the Greek goddess Metis is used as a catalyst for a character swap. But rather than peppering the well-worn formula with a wink-and-a-nod to those body-swap films that came before it - similar to what Paul did to alien-invasion flicks - The Change-Up does exactly what they’ve all done. It sticks to the formula. And by the way, a hard R rating isn’t enough to separate it from the chaff.

Granted, Bateman and Reynolds are worthy comic actors and it is actually quite entertaining watching Bateman do Reynolds – and vice versa. They’re not the reason The Change-Up fails to strike a chord. Rather, it’s the jarring juxtaposition of raunch and heart that the film’s makers fail to handle appropriately. In trying to counter its bawdiness, The Change-Up overcompensates with a tone that suddenly lurches to one of shallow, weepy sentimentality. There’s critical value in striking that perfect balance between naughty humor and genuine heart. Unfortunately they didn’t find it here.

Here’s an idea for a change-up. How about stop revisiting this weary genre?

{2jtab: Film Details}

Plot Synopsis : Feature red band trailer for The Change-Up . A comedy in which a married guy switches bodies with his best friend in order to woo his co-worker .

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The Change-Up

Dave is a married man with three kids and a loving wife, and Mitch is a single man who is at the prime of his sexual life. One fateful night while Mitch and Dave are peeing in a fountain, lightning strikes and they switch bodies.
Mitch (Ryan Reynolds) and Dave (Jason Bateman) grew up together and were inseparable best friends, but as the years have passed they've drifted apart. While Dave is an overworked lawyer, husband, and father of three, Mitch has remained a single, quasi-employed man-child who has never met a responsibility he liked. To Mitch, Dave has it all: beautiful wife Jamie (Leslie Mann), kids who adore him, and a high-paying job at a prestigious law firm. To Dave, Mitch's stress-free life without obligation or consequence would be a dream come true. Following a drunken night out together, Mitch and Dave's worlds are turned upside down when they wake up in each other's bodies and proceed to freak out. Despite the freedom from their normal routines and habits, the guys soon discover that each other's lives are nowhere near as rosy as they once seemed. Further complicating matters are Dave's sexy legal associate, Sabrina (Olivia Wilde) and Mitch's estranged father (Alan Arkin). With time not on their side, Mitch and Dave comically struggle to avoid completely destroying each other's lives before they can find a way to get their old ones back. — anonymous
Dave and Mitch have been friends since third grade. Dave is a driven attorney hoping to make partner, married with kids; Mitch is a slacker enjoying life. After an evening of drinking, they wish for each other's lives in front of a statute in an Atlanta park; the next morning they wake in the other's body. The statue's been moved to who-knows-where, so until they can find it and re-exchange bodies, they must carry on for each other: it's a crucial week professionally for Dave and Mitch has things lined up involving sex. Mitch gets a shot at responsibility and Dave at relaxing, and they learn secrets about themselves. Plus Mitch's dad is remarrying and Dave live out his attraction to a colleague. — <[email protected]>
In Atlanta, Dave Lockwood is an efficient and dedicated lawyer who expects to be promoted to partner of the law firm where he has been working for 10 years after a merging operation, and a family man married to gorgeous Jamie Lockwood and father of three children. His best friend is aspiring actor Mitch Planko, who is a single, reckless, unemployed quitter who never finishes what he starts. One night, Dave and Mitch drink a lot, go to a fountain to pee--and both simultaneously wish to have the life of the other. On the next morning, they wake up and discover that they have switched bodies. They return to the square and find that the fountain has moved to an unknown place. Therefore, Mitch needs to become responsible to save the job and the promotion of his friend, while Dave feels how complicated is for him to date his sexy, gorgeous colleague Sabrina McArdle. Sooner they learn more about themselves and also that the life of the other is not as good--and they believe it could be. — Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
In Atlanta, Dave Lockwood and Mitch Planko have been best friends since they were kids, despite their divergent adult paths. Dave is the model of responsibility and over-achievement, he on the verge of making partner at the law firm where he works, despite largely disagreeing with his overly-critical, opinionated boss, Flemming Steel. He has been married to his childhood sweetheart Jamie for 10 years, they who have three children, the two parenting them using every politically-correct theory. Mitch is an untrained struggling actor. In his slacker lifestyle, he is usually stoned or in bed with one of his plethora of casual female sex partners. But neither Dave or Mitch is truly happy, each wanting just a little of what the other has. Dave, while truly loves Jamie, secretly lusts after his newly hired associate, Sabrina McArdle, with who he has a professional "look but don't touch" attitude. Mitch sees Dave's life through the lens of the crazy uncle. He has a distant relationship with his own father, who loves his son but knows he could be so much more in his life. Out drinking together one night, Dave and Mitch are magically switched into each other's bodies on a simultaneous and impromptu wish at a fountain for the other's life. As they try to figure out how to switch back to their own life, each is able to see his best friend's life from a different perspective, as well their own life through the eyes of someone else. Through it all, they both have mixed emotions about what is happening to them: they still want a little of what the other has with the mentality of who they truly are as people, while trying to protect the life they've built which the other could easily wipe out with one wrong move. — Huggo
Mitch and Dave are best friends who have grown up together. Their lives have taken different paths. Dave is a successful but stressed lawyer, husband and father of 3 children. Mitch, on the other hand, is a single man and responsibility-free. One night, after much drinking, they arrive at a fountain to urinate. They remark that they wish they had each others life. Unbeknownst to them, it is a wishing fountain. The next day, they awake to find that they are in each others body. Now living each others life, they soon discover that the grass is not greener. They go back to find the fountain, only to find that it has been moved. Stuck in their situation, Mitch needs to go to Dave's law firm with some important documents. Dave needs to attend a film shoot for Mitch, only to find that it is a softcore porn movie. They try their best to avoid messing up each others lives while they find a way back to their own.

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Movie Reviews

'la chimera' is marvelous — right up to its most magical ending.

Justin Chang

Carol Duarte and Josh O'Connor in La Chimera . Neon hide caption

Carol Duarte and Josh O'Connor in La Chimera .

The wonderful 42-year-old filmmaker Alice Rohrwacher practices a kind of cinema that I've come to think of as "Italian magical neorealism." She gives us portraits of hard-scrabble lives in poor rural communities, but they're graced by a whimsical, almost fable-like sense of enchantment.

Rohrwacher's 2014 film, The Wonders , was a lyrical drama about a family of Tuscan beekeepers. She followed that in 2018 with Happy as Lazzaro , about a group of sharecroppers on a tobacco farm whose story moves from picaresque comedy to aching tragedy.

'The Wonders' Of Family And Change

Her marvelous new movie, La Chimera , follows in much the same vein, with one key difference. While Rohrwacher has generally worked with non-professional Italian actors, this time she's cast the English actor Josh O'Connor , best known for his Emmy-winning performance as a young Prince Charles on The Crown .

But O'Connor's character here doesn't give off even a whiff of royalty, even if his name is Arthur. When we first meet him, he's asleep on a train bound for his old stomping grounds in Tuscany. He's just been released from prison after serving some time for the crime of grave robbing.

Arthur has a mysterious archeological talent: Wielding a divining rod, he can detect the presence of buried artifacts, many of which date back to the Etruscan civilization more than 2,000 years ago. Arthur works with a group of tombaroli , or tomb raiders, who rely on him to figure out where to dig.

Upon his return, many of those old friends welcome him back with a parade — one of several moments in which Rohrwacher briefly channels the vibrant human chaos of a Fellini film. Arthur is a little reluctant to rejoin his old gang, since they let him take the rap after their last job. But he doesn't seem to have anything else to do, or anywhere else to go. He may be an outsider — his Italian throughout is decent but far from perfect — but it's the only place in the world that feels remotely like home. And O'Connor plays him with such a deep sense of melancholy that it feels almost special when his handsome, careworn face breaks into a warm smile.

It's not immediately clear what Arthur wants; unlike his cohorts, he doesn't seem all that interested in making money off their spoils. The answer turns out to lie in his dreams, which are haunted by a beautiful young woman named Beniamina — the love of his life, whom he's lost under unclear circumstances.

And so Arthur's determination to go underground becomes a metaphor for his longing for an irretrievable past: Beniamina is the Eurydice to his Orpheus, and he wants her back desperately.

Arthur is still close to Beniamina's mother, Flora, played with a wondrous mix of warmth and imperiousness by the great Isabella Rossellini. Her presence here made me think of her filmmaker father, the neorealist titan Roberto Rossellini — a fitting association for a movie about how the past is forever seeping into the present.

One of the pleasures of Rohrwacher's filmmaking is the way she subtly blurs our sense of time. La Chimera is set in the 1980s, but it could be taking place 20 years earlier, or 20 years later. Rohrwacher and her brilliant cinematographer, Hélène Louvart, shot the movie on a mix of film stocks and sometimes tweak the image in ways that evoke the cinematic antiquities of the silent era. As sorrowful as Arthur's journey is, there's a playfulness to Rohrwacher's sensibility that keeps pulling you in, inviting you to get lost in the movie's mysteries.

One of the story's most significant characters is Italia, played by the Brazilian actor Carol Duarte, who works in Flora's household. Italia is a bit of an odd duck with a beguiling bluntness about her, and she might be just the one to pull Arthur out of his slump and get him to stop living in the past.

I won't give away what happens, except to say that La Chimera builds to not one but two thrilling scenes of underground exploration, in which Arthur must finally figure out his life's purpose — not by using a divining rod, but by following his heart. And it leads to the most magical movie ending I've seen in some time, and also the most real.

How to Watch Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire – Showtimes and Streaming Status

In theaters march 29..

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is the latest movie in Legendary Pictures' and Warner Bros.' MonsterVerse. A sequel to 2021's Godzilla vs. Kong, The New Empire features the return of both eponymous Titans, who team up to take on a giant, orangutan-like villain named Skar King. You can check out our review of the film for more info.

If you're wondering how and where you can watch Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire this weekend, take a look at the info below.

Where to Watch Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire – Showtimes and Streaming

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire will be released in theaters on March 29 . To find when and where you can watch the movie near you, check the local showtime listings at the main theater sites below:

AMC Theaters
Cinemark Theaters
Regal Theaters

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire Streaming Release Date

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire will eventually be released on Max , rather than Netflix or Disney+.

As for a potential streaming release date for Godzilla x Kong, we can look to other recent releases from distributor Warner Bros. Warner's three latest movies to hit Max — Wonka, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, and The Color Purple — came to streaming 84, 67, and 53 days after their theatrical debuts, respectively. Should Warner follow suit here, we'd expect Godzilla x Kong to land on the higher side of that release window, potentially putting it on Max sometime in June .

What Is Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire About?

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is a sequel to 2021's Godzilla vs. Kong. Here's the official synopsis from production company Legendary Pictures:

This latest entry in the Monsterverse franchise follows up the explosive showdown of Godzilla vs. Kong with an all-new cinematic adventure, pitting the almighty Kong and the fearsome Godzilla against a colossal undiscovered threat hidden within our world, challenging their very existence – and our own. The epic new film will delve further into the histories of these Titans, their origins, and the mysteries of Skull Island and beyond, while uncovering the mythic battle that helped forge these extraordinary beings and tied them to humankind forever.

How to Watch Godzilla vs. Kong

Those who want to watch or rewatch Godzilla vs. Kong ahead of the sequel can stream it on Max. If you don't have that subscription service, you can rent/buy the movie from various digital storefronts.

Godzilla vs. Kong (2021)

Max (Stream)
Prime Video (Rent/Buy)
YouTube (Rent/Buy)

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire Cast

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire was written by Terry Rossio, Simon Barrett, and Jeremy Slater. It was directed by Adam Wingard and stars the following actors:

Rebecca Hall as Ilene Andrews
Brian Tyree Henry as Bernie Hayes
Dan Stevens as Trapper
Kaylee Hottle as Jia
Alex Ferns as Mikael
Fala Chen as Iwi Queen
Rachel House as Hampton
Ron Smych as Harris

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire Rating and Runtime

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is Rated PG-13 for creature violence and action. The film runs for a total of 1 hour and 55 minutes including credits.

Jordan covers games, shows, and movies as a freelance writer for IGN.

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The Change-Up movie review & film summary (2011)

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The Change-Up movie review & film summary (2011)
Written by. Jon Lucas. Scott Moore. "The Change-Up" is one of the dirtiest-minded mainstream releases in history. It has a low opinion of men, a lower opinion of women, and the lowest opinion of the intelligence of its audience. It is obscene, foulmouthed, scatological, creepy and perverted. As a bonus, it has the shabbiest low-rent main titles ...
The Change-Up
The Change-Up is a comedy starring Ryan Reynolds and Jason Bateman. I saw the trailer and reviews prior to renting this one and figured there was no way this could be good but my wife wanted to ...
The Change-Up Movie Review
Hidden beneath all of the crude comedy is the mess. Positive Role Models. Dave is hardworking, but he takes his life for gra. Violence & Scariness. Some slapstick scenes involving Dave/Mitch and twi. Sex, Romance & Nudity. Nudity in several scenes, including a graphic soft. Language. The first word Dave utters is "f--k," and that set.
'The Change-Up,' Directed by David Dobkin
R. 1h 52m. By Stephen Holden. Aug. 4, 2011. Within the first three minutes of the body-swapping, farcical bromance "The Change-Up," a gurgling baby boy unleashes a projectile explosion of poop ...
The Change-Up (2011)
The Change-Up: Directed by David Dobkin. With Ryan Reynolds, Jason Bateman, Leslie Mann, Olivia Wilde. Dave is a married man with three kids and a loving wife, and Mitch is a single man who is at the prime of his sexual life. One fateful night while Mitch and Dave are peeing in a fountain, lightning strikes and they switch bodies.
The Change-Up: Film Review
The Change-Up bravely attempts to revive the dormant subgenre but it's a lame effort that grows increasingly frantic and foul-mouthed as the realization sets in that the gimmick isn't working ...
The Change-Up
Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Jan 14, 2013. Ben Kendrick Screen Rant. It's easy to recommend The Change-Up for its over-the-top laughs and a pair of solid leads that succeed in offering a ...
The Change-Up
The Change-Up - review. A single guy and a married man swap lives in this largely uninspired identity-switch comedy. Peter Bradshaw. Thu 15 Sep 2011 17.15 EDT. I n the Farrelly brothers ...
'The Change-Up'
During a night of inebriated revelry, the boys do what needs to get done in a body-switching comedy: Each grows envious of the other's life. Mitch longs for a loving family and stable career ...
'The Change-Up' Movie Review: One Of The Summer's Best Comedies
In the race for best comedy of the summer, The Change-Up gives Bridesmaids a run for its money. It has all the laughs that were missing from The Hangover Part II, all the over-the-top crudeness ...
The Change-Up
Growing up together, Mitch and Dave were inseparable best friends, but as the years have passed they've slowly drifted apart. While Dave is an overworked lawyer, husband and father of three, Mitch has remained a single, quasi-employed man-child who has never met a responsibility he liked. To Mitch, Dave has it all: beautiful wife Jamie, kids who adore him and a high-paying job at a prestigious ...
'The Change-Up' Review
The progression from scene to scene is distractingly predictable - in addition to a plot that's easy to trace from A to B to C. The Change-Up is also overly-long. The protagonists waffle (at least) one too many times - meaning that the audience is actually forced to follow a predictable plot from A to B to C to D.
THE CHANGE-UP Review
The Change-Up review. Matt reviews David Dobkin's The Change-Up starring Jason Bateman, Ryan Reynolds, Leslie Mann, Olivia Wilde, and Alan Arkin. The body-switching comedy is a silly concept which ...
The Change-Up
Movie Review. To say that lifelong friends Mitch and Dave lead merely different lives is to say that apples and fire hydrants are vaguely dissimilar items. No, Mitch and Dave have massively, poles apart, contradictory lifestyles.Man-child Mitch's world is full of daily recreational debauchery and as many joints as he can smoke between low-life acting auditions.
The Change-Up Review
The Change-Up Review A tired and familiar formula gets a raunchy update. By ... In this movie, it's not the physical aspects of the transformation that the two find difficult to reconcile, but ...
Movie Review: The Change-Up (2011)
Let's cut to the chase — Olivia Wilde is a beautifully packaged woman and plays a part in many man's fantasies. Even mine on occasion. But if you were hoping to see her naked in The Change-Up, you won't (before she became a hot Hollywood commodity, she delivered the goods in "Alpha Dog"). There is a moment, however, where you think it might happen — your senses tingle and the ...
The Change-Up
The Change-Up is a 2011 American fantasy romantic comedy produced and directed by David Dobkin, and written by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore.The film stars Ryan Reynolds and Jason Bateman as Mitch Planko and Dave Lockwood, two best friends living in Atlanta who "switch bodies" after urinating into the fountain to wish they had each other's lives. The film was released on August 5, 2011, in ...
The Change-Up Movie Review
In The Change-Up movie, you get a weed-head telling a little girl that violence is good and she should attack her bully, although her real father teaches her to search for a "verbal resolution.". In addition, you get a conservative father who is apprehensive about sticking his finger up the backside of a woman that is not his wife.
IJW: The Change-Up (2011) : r/Ijustwatched
The Change-Up (2011) Comedy, Fantasy [ USA:R, 1 h 58 min] Ryan Reynolds, Jason Bateman, Leslie Mann, Olivia Wilde. Director: David Dobkin. IMDb rating: ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆ 6.4 /10 (136,175 votes) Mitch and Dave have a completely opposite way of living. Mitch has a free life filled with fun whereas Dave is married and has a monotonous ...
The Change-Up
The body-swap flick gets a raunchy R-rated makeover in David Dobkins' The Change-up, a film that fails to counter its smutty better half with anything other than schmaltzy, sentimental hogwash.So, instead of Wedding Crashers meets Freaky Friday, we get Judd Apatow does 18 Again.. We've seen this movie before. But like a crackhead looking for another fix, Hollywood revisits.
The Change-Up (2011)
One fateful night while Mitch and Dave are peeing in a fountain, lightning strikes and they switch bodies. Mitch (Ryan Reynolds) and Dave (Jason Bateman) grew up together and were inseparable best friends, but as the years have passed they've drifted apart. While Dave is an overworked lawyer, husband, and father of three, Mitch has remained a ...
"The Change-up"
THE CHANGE-UP movie review for parents, featuring 15 categories of content including profanity, sex, violence and more ... I've found the "Our Take" reviews and ratings for each movie to be right on the money every single time. I've referred dozens of friends to this service because my #1 resource for deciding whether or not to show a movie ...
'La Chimera' review: This Italian fable features a magical movie ending
Carol Duarte and Josh O'Connor in La Chimera . Neon. The wonderful 42-year-old filmmaker Alice Rohrwacher practices a kind of cinema that I've come to think of as "Italian magical neorealism." She ...
How to Watch Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire
By Jordan Sirani. Posted: Mar 28, 2024 10:15 am. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is the latest movie in Legendary Pictures' and Warner Bros.' MonsterVerse. A sequel to 2021's Godzilla vs. Kong ...

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