Body swap comedy in The Change-Up

Who’s in it? Ryan Reynolds, Jason Bateman, Leslie Mann

The plot Growing up together, Mitch (Reynolds) and Dave (Bateman) were inseparable best friends, but as the years passed they slowly drifted apart. While Dave is an overworked lawyer, husband and father of three, Mitch has remained a single man with an allergy to anything resembling responsibility. To Mitch, Dave has it all: a beautiful wife, Jamie (Mann), kids and a high-paying job at a prestigious law firm. But for Dave, living Mitch’s carefree life would be a dream come true.

After a boy’s night out, Mitch and Dave’s worlds are turned upside down when they wake up in each other’s bodies. Despite the freedom from their normal routines and habits, the guys soon discover that the other’s life is not as great as it seemed.

Further complicating things are Dave’s beautiful legal associate, Sabrina (Olivia Wilde) and Mitch’s estranged father (Alan Arkin). With time running out, Mitch and Dave struggle to avoid destroying each other’s lives before they can find a way to somehow switch back again.

What we liked The main thing that separates this movie from those that have come before, is that the two guys swapping bodies are roughly the same age, the same gender and they’re both easy on the eye. So, it’s not the physical aspects of the transformation that the two find difficult to reconcile, but their lifestyles. Bateman and Reynolds don’t have to try too hard to make the switch believable.

What we didn’t like The premise of swapping bodies has been done, and done again! Every scene in the film is predictable – from the moment it starts, you know exactly where the story is going and it rarely detours from that expected route.

Our rating 3/5

Who’s who in Hollywood... Alan Arkin

Bio The American actor, director and musician is best known for his role in Little Miss Sunshine, for which he won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor back in 2007.
Fact! He’s one of only six actors to receive an Oscar nomination for Best Actor for his first screen appearance.