Wally is a ‘middle of the road’ type of guy. He’s likable, but not lovable. He’s cute, but not handsome. He’s in love with his best friend Kassie, but she considers him a friend. He’s basically the perfect example of ‘every guy’. When he finds out the love of his life wants to have a baby, because she can’t find the man of her dreams, he tries to convince her otherwise. In the end, she gets a sperm donor and Wally gets drunk in celebration at her sperm donating party. Out of his mind sloushed, he ends up accidentally dumping her donor’s sperm and replacing it with his own. What could possibly go wrong with this picture?
The Switch was based on a short story and turned into a screenplay, which often produces a longer story than need be. That’s the main problem with The Switch. It’s a story that could be told in 30 minutes or less, but is actually stretched to 101 minutes. Why? That’s how long major motion pictures last, at minimum, these days (unless you’re an animated feature then it could be less). Most people who have seen the film complain about the drab, dull nature of the slightly budding love story between Kassie and Wally. I can see why it’s drab and, again, it’s due to the longevity of the story. The best comparison to this movie would be stretching taffy out. When you stretch taffy out, even though you have a small amount of taffy, the candy gets thinner and thinner. The taste and substance gets shallower, which defines the characters and story of this film. It’s been stretched out so much that there really isn’t any substance to sustain a good experience.
That’s not to say that the experience is awful; it’s simply shallow. You can believe that Wally (Jason Bateman) and Kassie (Jennifer Aniston) are good friends. You can believe that eventually they might end up together. The lead actors certainly pour their hearts into the roles and seem to take what’s going on in comedic stride. If Bateman and Anniston were a real life couple I could certainly buy it. They work well together and play off each other really well. So do they help save the movie? They help, but the real savior in this film is the little kid named Sebastian (Thomas Robinson). His performance is outstanding, as he plays the smaller version of Bateman’s Wally. He is good on his timing with lines, fantastic with his sad facial expressions and simply makes the scenes with Wally and Kassie a lot more alive. He makes the film fun to watch and excusable when the flaws show up. Does he fix the film? Only a little, but when he’s onscreen he makes you forget that the movie is way too long for the story.
Anyway, the overall body of work for the film isn’t that bad. Sure it’s a far-fetched story to begin with (it’s Hollywood, what do you expect?), but it does have some redeeming moments that make it entertaining. Is it a comedy? Lord yes, it has some great moments of funny (partly helped by the neurotic Jeff Goldblum — I didn’t mention him, but he’s in it and fun as always). Is it romantic? That’s the part that hurts the film as well. The movie never gets the romance truly started, though you’ll be begging for it sometime in the middle. You never feel like that part of the motif builds for The Switch, which is probably why most people didnt like it. Again, the story was simply drawn out too much and mismanaged a little.
Regardless, it’s still fun for one viewing.
As for the Blu-ray side of things, the movie looks pretty in 1080p. With the landscape of New York City as the backdrop you can expect some really beautiful shots in the Big Apple. What’s amazing is that most of what you see on the Blu-ray is really clean footage. There is little to no graininess or artifacts in the shots, which is a huge plus for a movie like this. Will you remember it’s in HD the next day? Well, not exactly, but that comes from mostly darkly lit areas and uncolorful shots inside the city. There are moments of ‘Wow, that’s gorgeous’, but mainly it’s just a smooth, clean visual ride. The audio is equally as impressive, as it’s mastered in 5.1 DTS-HD.
Let’s talk about features.
The special features on The Switch Blu-ray aren’t too bad. Here’s what you’re getting:
– Deleted Scenes / Alternate Ending
– “The Switch Conceived” Featurette
– Bloopers
The real beef in this set is the featurette, which goes into how the story was put together, where it came from and it goes into the actors. You will get a good, healthy HD dose of how this film was made from beginning to end. The interviews are very well done and it was put together nicely. The bloopers are also hilarious on this set, as you’ll be snickering with the actors as they screw up beautifully. Bateman is hilarious during this feature. Not bad features overall, though there could have been more.