'The Change-Up'

'The Change-Up (R) (1 1/2 STARS)

Writers: Jon Lucas and Scott Moore
Director: David Dobkin
Starring: Jason Bateman, Ryan Reynolds, Olivia Wilde, Alan Arkin, Leslie Mann, Gregory Itzin, Craig Bierko

Not only is "The Change-Up" very dated and familiar but it is also unfunny, desperate and obnoxious. This is one of those smug movies where the film makers try to push vulgarity to the extreme and wind up being pathetic. This is a body switch movie which I think was a genre that died in the late 80's. There have been good body switch movies and very bad ones. "Big" is the absolute best and one of my all time favorite movies period. "Like Father Like Son" is the worst, that is until "The Change-Up" was made.

Jason Bateman and Ryan Reynolds play best friends Mitch and Dave. Mitch is a womanizer who has cheap sex with women and has no responsibilities and Dave is a family man with three kids and a wife. After peeing in a fountain and declaring they wish they had each other's life both wake up to find that they have just switched bodies. This is a plot that has been done to death but can be funny if it is given a fresh twist or a new energy. This movie has energy all right but only in I think setting a record for the most F bombs ever in a comedy.

This is a movie where the writers think that the characters saying the "F" word constantly is funny. This is a movie where women are called degrading names that I think no man has ever said to a woman in real life. This movie reminded me of those amateurish comedies made in the 80's. Most of the comedy is geared towards insulting women, Jewish people and children. All that I guess would be fine if that comedy was funny and this movie is never funny. The only thing saving this movie from being a worthless Zero star mess is the comic timing of Jason Bateman and Ryan Reynolds. They do a good job trading places and copying each other's comic style.

They try to make something out of this pathetic comedy but there is only so much they can do. This movie is extremely obnoxious, creepy and made me cringe most of the time. After I finished seeing the movie I wanted to run out of the theatre screaming. I was not having a good time and I felt very uncomfortable. There is a scene where part time actor Mitch stars in a soft core porno movie. This scene is one of the trashiest, awkward and most misoginist scenes I have ever witnessed in a mainstream comedy.

I do love vulgar movies that insult all kinds of people and try to shock people with so called gross out humor. I have loved "The Hangover", "Kingpin", "There's Something About Mary" so believe me when I tell you "The Change-Up" is not like those movies, it is ugly, embarrassing and painfully unfunny. I am also not a prude when it comes to nudity in a movie but there is so much unnecessary nudity in this movie. I felt that this is a movie made by adult men who just wanted to get each other off and wanted to see if they could out gross "The Hangover".

I felt like this movie hated women and that is sad because the beautiful Olivia Wilde and the funny and talented Leslie Mann are good here and I felt sad for both of them. Women are seen here as either sex objects or as bitches that need to be ridiculed and shoved aside. What is really pathetic is how the movie shoves vulgar jokes down our throat and then tries in the end to become touching and sappy like a badly written ending to a "Full House" episode. This is one of the worst comedies of the last decade.