I would like to start this review by thanking Allan Loeb, the writer of The Switch. There is nothing I enjoy more than a romantic comedy that features characters committing crimes that would land them in prison for years if they did them in real life, but by doing them on screen they only produce ‘happily ever after’ endings.
Jennifer Aniston does the best she can with the material she is given in The Switch, playing Kassie, who having failed to find Mr. Right by 40 has decided to take matters into her own hands and starts advertising for a “specimen” donor. Jason Bateman doesn’t do as well as her best friend Wally, showing the world that sometimes there’s no shame in just playing the leading man’s best friend. Wally offers her his own home brew, but gets turned down flat, so if you’re like me, you’ll probably wonder why there are no police sirens in the background at the end of the movie too. Kassie hires Roland (Patrick Wilson) to be the donor, Wally drunkenly accidentally dumps the cup, fills it up himself, and forgets all about it. Flash forward 7 years. Zoinks!
I mentioned Patrick Wilson as Roland above, and I want to spend a second on him. I’m sure I could come up with worse recent acting performances if I thought hard enough, but why bother. All I could think was how nice it would have been if someone who wasn’t a complete vacuum of personality was in the role. As I sat watching one scene during the movie, I actually thought to myself, “I bet John Corbett would have played this part well,” and when I am comparing you to John Corbett of all people, you’ve already lost.
There were three supporting actors that put in commendable jobs, however. Jeff Goldblum appears as Wally’s boss/best male friend Leonard, and it is now clear but Mr. Goldblum will soon be appearing as dads in Apatow films in the future. Thomas Robinson plays the kid, Sebastian, and is the perfect blend of bullied basket case, as any kid named Sebastian would be. Finally, Scott Elrod, a guy I’ve never heard of and was only in the movie for 15 seconds, steals a scene playing the perfect douchebag. This guy would be given a chance.
So guys, if your girlfriends aren’t giving you a choice, there are a lot worse rom-coms to sit through, but all in all, I’d rather watch Piranha 3-D.