Directed by David Dobkin. Starring Ryan Reynolds, Jason Bateman, Leslie Mann, Olivia Wilde, Craig Bierko, Gregory Itzin, Alan Arkin 16 cert, gen release, 112 min
IN THE OLDEN days, the body-swap comedy made some effort to explain how its principals ended up in each other's frames. In The Change-Up, two chaps just wee in a fountain and, after the city's electricity crashes, magically find themselves staring through new eyes. We're not asking for Dr Boffin to talk us through the physics, but a little mystical fleshing out would be appreciated.
Anyway, as you may have gathered from the horrible poster, The Change-Upimagines a corporeal exchange between two rather different best friends. Jason Bateman plays an apparently settled family bloke with a high- powered job in the world of corporate law. Ryan Reynolds is a dissolute ladies' man who makes occasional, half-hearted efforts to break into acting. When they get jiggled around, they learn lessons, confront issues and become more rounded human beings. Wouldn't it have been easier to just go on the Oprahshow?
For a film that dares to get moralistic in its final act, The Change-Updoesn't half revel in Ryan's taste for bad behaviour. Copious off-colour jokes about "dating" are bandied about and no opportunity to flash naked breasts is squandered. A great deal of cake is both had and eaten. The film argues for honesty in relationships, but still encourages Jason – when in Ryan's body – to pursue the "hot" girl (Olivia Wilde) that steams up his morning meetings.
If almost any other voguish actors had been cast in the lead roles the film would have been close to unbearable. Happily, Reynolds and Bateman are both charmers and do a fairly decent job of making, well, not quite a silk purse, but maybe a useful cotton holdall of the stinking hog’s lughole.
Bateman exhibits just the right line of lip-quivering infantile panic for an anal retentive trapped in a slob’s apartment. The scene where Ryan makes a pathetic attempt — Alan Partridge’s blazer and tasselled loafers — to dress like a lawyer almost justifies the admission price.
Still, there is no avoiding the conclusion that both actors are worthy of better things. Perhaps they might invite their agents to pee in the same fountain as some more clear-thinking representatives.
