The Switch (DVD)

Kassie Larson (Jennifer Aniston) needs sperm. Or, to be more precise, she wants a baby and with her biological clock ticking and the lack of a stable partner in her life, she acquires a turkey baster and selects athletic but moronic volunteer Roland (Wilson) as the prospective donor and father. She even goes as far as to organise a “Let’s Make A Baby!” party to publicise her imminent conception.

Unfortunately, on the night, her best friend Wally (Bateman) drunkenly knocks over and spills the crucial sample while stumbling around in the bathroom. Even worse, he quickly decides not to confess but to leave a sample of his own in the jar to cover his tracks. Meeting Kassie again seven years later, Wally is struck by the similarities between himself and her young son Sebastian (Robinson). Yet he has completely forgotten the whole wanking incident and with Kassie now drifting towards a relationship with Roland, what will happen?

You can probably work it out for yourselves but the real problem with The Switch is not so much its predictability as with the switch itself. Despite being inspired by surprisingly high brow source material (a short story by Virgin Suicides author Jeffery Eugenides), the wanking scene , while as tastefully done as possible, sounds more like a launch pad for some horrendous gross out comedy than for this, a gentle, at times overly sentimental film. Besides, is it really likely such an important sample would have been left so easily accessible at a party? Would Wally really have totally forgotten everything by the following morning? And even allowing for his drunkenness, what sort of best friend is he to do such a thing anyway? He is pleasant enough throughout the rest of the film making his behaviour seem inexcusably out of character.

For all that, there are actually lots of good things about The Switch. Bateman is as likeable as ever, Aniston makes you wonder why she doesn’t attempt some more interesting roles. Juliette Lewis is good value as Kassie’s friend, Jeff Goldblum somewhat underpowered in the Alec Baldwin part as Wally’s older friend and boss. Thomas Robinson also impresses as the cute but morbid child, Sebastian.

But overall this is too predictable, sentimental and boring to recommend to anyone. If you do really like it a competent “making of” featurette and some deleted scenes are included. But I’m guessing you won’t want to bother.

Overall Verdict: Not as bad as it sounds but fatally dull and crucially for a romantic comedy, not very funny. And the “switching” sequence seriously jars (no pun intended) with the rest of the film.

Special Features:
The Switch Conceived: Making Of Featurette
Deleted Scenes with Introductions Featurette

Reviewer: Chris Hallam