I really wanted to like "The Change-Up."
For starters, it has more or less likeable stars in Jason Bateman, Ryan Reynolds, Leslie Mann and Olivia Wilde and, despite a premise that's about as fresh as month-old milk, it has a few hints of insight into being married with children.
But director David Dobkin ("Fred Claus") falls into a bunch of the same old traps, trying too hard at some points and not hard enough at others, and everything falls flat.
And, really, someone went a little crazy with the CGI here, which is doubly puzzling for a comedy. Seriously, we get CG baby butts, CG knife fights and, the topper of all insults, CG boobies.
Yes, that's right, our raunchy comedy is too wimpy to get its women for-real naked, instead settling for digitally-enhanced jubblies on at least three occasions.
But there are story issues as well. Our heroes are a workaholic lawyer (Bateman) with a wife (Mann) and kids, and his old buddy, a confirmed bachelor (Reynolds) who can't even commit to a brand of underwear, much less any kind of relationship.
The boys go out one night and find themselves, drunk and needing to answer nature's call, standing in front of a fountain. So they decide to pee in the fountain, during which they both wish that they had each other's lives.
And presto! Body switch, and we're locked into the plot, where Reynolds-as-Bateman deals with being unemployed, good-looking and irresponsible, while Bateman-as-Reynolds has to deal with the vagaries of family life: screaming babies at 3 in the morning, having responsibilities and, worst of all, dealing with the fact that his wife from time to time has to poop.
When done right, this is the sort of movie I really go for, dealing with relationships in unconventional ways and showing some of the realities of parenthood and couplehood.
But when done wrong (see How It's Done Here), we get things like bosses who are unlike most real bosses, grown-ass men who can't stop swearing no matter what setting they're in, and quivering, winking baby buttholes with projectile diarrhea. Let me say as a father of three who's been pooped, peed, barfed and slobbered on in all shapes and forms that it most definitely does not happen that way.
There's just enough of a hint of insight in "The Change-Up" that it makes it disappointing that the movie fails so badly. The actors elevate the material to an almost-enjoyable level at times, but the material ultimately is not up to the task, relying far too much on standard gross-out gags (most of which are poorly executed) and the easy laughs, rather than going the extra mile and making a good movie.
Bateman and Mann offer a wholly believable couple with legitimate marital problems (which simmer below the surface, hiding behind disengaged smiles and detached kisses goodnight), but Reynolds' character (whether he or Bateman is playing him) is a cartoon who can't control his impulses.
Without the star power of Bateman, Mann, Reynolds and Wilde — and if, say, Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson had been subbed in for any two of them — this likely would have been one of the worst films of the year. As it is, it's mostly just unbearable.