Director David Dobkin may have garnered a number of laughs, shocks, and gasps from the audience, but The Change-Up is, essentially, an R-rated bromance version of the mother-daughter body-switching comedy Freaky Friday . So inspired, in fact, that the lascivious comedy can hardly be called innovative. Dave (Jason Bateman) is a career-obsessed lawyer with a loving wife (the screechy yet lovely Leslie Mann) and three young children. Mitch (Ryan Reynolds ) curses in front of Dave’s children, smokes marijuana in public, and adores himself and his looks, which he uses to sleep with as many women as possible (and brag about it incessantly). He is reckless, careless, and carefree. One drunken night, Dave and Mitchell urinate in a fountain, simultaneously chanting, “I wish I had your life.” Thunder, a blackout, and body-switching follow and the predictability ensues. Of course, following the supernatural formula established in Big , the magical fountain ha...
It's time for this petite aspie movie snob to get critical. (Let's face it: it's always time for that).