Review: The Change Up

The Change Up

8/9/11

Carmike Cinema 10

Large Mr. Pibb

Plenty of A/C

I’ve been thinking a lot about the movie that really started this trend of raunchy, limits-pushing one-upsmanship that we are currently caught in the middle of at the megaplex these days.  Was it Wedding Crashers?  There’s Something About Mary?  Do we need to go all the way back to Porky’s?  All of those were funny, classless, edgy and oh so wrong. 

The problem is that at some point that just becomes stale and repetitive.  Alas:  The Change Up.   Basic plot:  Dave has a routine job as an attorney, wife, 3 kids, pretty boring.  Mitch is his best buddy and has no job as he struggles to become an actor but spends most of his time hooking up with women and spending money he doesn’t have.  They pee in a magic fountain and switch places.  Mayhem ensues until the can find a way to switch back.

Jason Bateman and Ryan Reynolds are two of the best actors working today.  Leslie Mann is hilarious and always does a good job of playing the put-upon wife.  The movie had some things working in its favor.  Not working in its favor:  the tiredness of the switcharoo comedy, the horribleness of The Hangover Part 2, the gross-out physical humor of Bridesmaids and the shock value of Horrible Bosses.  In a year where none of that had happened this movie may have worked, in a summer where it did happen, it just hits flat. 

If you aren’t a fan of horrible language, stay away.  Frequent use of the “f-bomb” (100+ utterings), even in front of children is prevalent and one of the characters is a soft-core porn actor so it’s hard to avoid discussions and images of his occupation.  It’s definitely not for the prude amongst us. 

I’m not saying it was crap, there were some really funny parts and those two guys can take even a mediocre script and make it funny.  The problem is that by the time they get around to trying to make it a lesson in morality and human nature, they’ve already lost you. 

In summary, imagine if the makers of Freaky Friday had smoked a bunch of pot and watched some dirty movies before they wrote the script and BOOM!:  The Change Up.  In fact, grown-up Freak Friday actress Lindsay Lohan probably LOVED this version.  I’ll recommend it for the guys during Poker Night but otherwise I’d probably skip it. 

My review: 

2/4, C, Wait for DVD