RSSThe Switch is Predictable Romance
Aug 20
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The irony of The Switch, the new Jennifer Aniston film about finding her baby daddy, is the happily ever after. Maybe it’s expected for this kind of predictable romantic comedy, but the movie opens up with a lengthy voice over from Jason Bateman’s character Wally about how life is a rut. It’s a wholly sympathetic point of view that is too obviously contradicted in a flat finale.
The other irony is that Jennifer Aniston is the star vehicle pushing The Switch, but she is outshined by Bateman and their child co-star Thomas Robinson. Aniston is pitch-perfect as the anguished mom-to-be, then independent single mother Cassie who likes her best friend Wally but won’t consider him as a sperm donor. Instead she finds hunky Roland (played with a kind of crazy-Watchmen glint in his eyes by Patrick Wilson that was missing from his character in the Watchmen) whose donation is swapped with Wally’s and hilarity ensues.
The Switch is funny. It’s cute. It’s formulaic. It’s also insanely fast paced. The only time the movie slows down is scenes between Wally and Sebastian (played with adorable quirkiness by Robinson). Only then does the movie give credit to the story its pushing, and it is in those moments that makes The Switch worth watching.
But that’s the heart of the problem really. This isn’t a boy meets girl romantic comedy (see The Back-up Plan). It’s a story about a father building a relationship with his six-year old son and realizing that its the relationships in his life that gives it meaning and purpose. Even his friendship with his coworker (played by Jeff Goldblum) makes this point nicely, even if you wish you could have seen more of it during the movie. That’s why, when he eventually gets the girl (believe me, not a spoiler), it’s kind of besides the point.
