There’s this old cliché that goes: “You can never fully understand another person until you walk in his shoes.”
The Change-Up, a new comedy flick movie from Universal Pictures is exactly about that. Here, two best friends -- Mitch (Ryan Raynolds) and Dave (Jason Bateman) -- had exactly opposite lives. Dave, who works in a respectable corporate firm, is a promising career-driven lawyer, and has three wonderful kids and a lovely wife, Jamie (Leslie Mann), is still dissatisfied about how his life turned out. He envies the life of his friend Mitch, who can be best described as having a perverted Peter Pan lifestyle of being irresponsible, single, carefree, and in pursuit of a showbiz career in low-budget porno films.
Mitch, in the same way, envies the life of his friend Dave who has become successful in almost all aspects of life. Their fates supernaturally switch after they urinate on a fountain of the Greek deity Metis, goddess of wisdom, skills and craft, and simultaneously wished for each other’s life.
This movie is no different than other switch back movies I’ve seen. The stories and plots are almost the same, concluding to the realization of the characters as they learn the value of each other’s lives after filling in each other shoes. However, one of the biggest challenges for movies such as these that have a similar plot is the execution, script, and also the caliber of the talents that a producer puts in. The difference, I guess, with this movie, is the perfect team up between Ryan Reynolds, who is fresh from his blockbuster performance in Green Lantern, and Jason Bateman, also another currently sought-after comedian who’s been bagging one project after another. In fact, I just saw him in Horrible Bosses recently.
Skin exposures are a plus factor to entice fans to watch this film. The character of Sabrina, played by Olivia Wilde, as the composed and sexy hot paralegal of Jason Bateman, will surely attract more male movie viewers. She represents the hidden sexual fantasy of Dave, who was suppressed to keep the good “married guy” image in the office. I first saw Olivia Wilde in the film Cowboys and Aliens as the hot changeling ET and she definitely has the feminine physique to show off.
The comedy part is also distinctive in a “Fear Factor” sort of way. In the early part of the film, there was a scene where Dave, responsible dad as he is, changed the diapers of one their twin babies and a gooey fondue-consistency poop trajectory squirted on Dave’s face and into his mouth. Now that’s one comedy feature that will make everyone spill their guts out laughing and will make one wait for more toilet-humor actions the rest of the film.
Even if this film may not win any awards, it surely will get a lot comedy fans’ approval. The switchback concept is definitely unoriginal, but it was nevertheless made extra hilarious by the talented actors who played the funny characters. There are foul languages used though as well as sexually-explicit scenes so minors have to be guided accordingly. I suggest, however, that you simply leave the kids at home when you go see this movie.
Catch The Change-Up in a theater near you. It is best recommended to be watched with your special someone.
No comments:
Post a Comment