'The Switch'

'The Switch' (PG-13) (2 stars)

Writer: Allen Loeb
Directors: Josh Gordon and Will Speck
Starring: Jennifer Aniston, Jason Bateman, Jeff Goldblum, Juliette Lewis, Patrick Wilson, Thomas Robinson, Todd Louiso

"The Switch" is one of those movies where you like the two lead actors so much you want them to overcome a troubled screenplay. I think the movie is kind of forgettable but Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman come off as so likable and decent. Jason Bateman has done some very good movies lately. I loved him in "Juno" and really loved him in "Extract" which was criminally neglected. He has a great comic delivery and presence and he is engaging in a Tom Hanks sort of way. Jennifer Aniston can't seem to shake her "Friends" image in romantic comedies. I still think she is very engaging and attractive and likable so you want to follow her. Her best work has come in low budget dramas like "The Good Girl" and I really liked her in the satisfying "Marley & Me". There are too many weak movies like "The Break Up" and the terrible "The Bounty Hunter" that set her back. Both actors are very good here but the story lets them down.

"The Switch" has Jennifer Aniston playing Kassie Larson, a career woman who wants to have a baby but through a sperm donor. Jason Bateman plays her best friend Wally Mars who thinks this might be a bad idea but maybe because she won't ask him to do it. You know that he loves her and wants to be more than friends but she wants to use someone else. She moves away and comes back seven years later with a son named Sebastian. Through a mix up Wally dumps the donor's sperm in the sink and has to replace it. When Kassie comes back with the son he seems to act and look just like Wally. The first half of the movie is very awkward and clumsy and the rhythm is off so I was distracted. When Sebastian comes into the picture the movie starts to gain some heart and direction. Bateman and Thomas Robinson who plays the child have a charming and great chemistry together.

The stuff with the romance is predictable and plays like a television sitcom. I didn't believe a second what happens at the end and it just seems so pat. I don't mind formula and predictable if I feel that the movie works and has a good storytelling style. This movie is just too all over the place and sloppily made to engage us. The directors also made "Blades of Glory" with Will Ferrell and that was close to being hilarious but they couldn't truly make it work completely. I do love Bateman and Anniston, feel Juliette Lewis was wasted as Kassie's friend but I did enjoy Jeff Goldblum. We forget how he can take over a scene and how funny he is. He is the best thing about this movie and he is now taking over for Christopher Walken for making a movie that much better just for being in it. I would like to see more of him in movies these days but also something more original and energetic than "The Switch".