Jason Bateman is more than a child actor who didn’t succumb to a life of tabloid headlines and VH1 redemption. He’s a terrific comic actor, period, one whose talents are too often relegated to supporting parts.
In “The Switch,” Bateman gets the best role of his still young film career. He plays the best bud of a single gal (Jennifer Aniston) who decides to have a baby via a sperm donor. The title tells the rest of the story, a convoluted one that can’t derail Bateman’s fine work.
Aniston plays Kassie, a single gal who decides to have a baby on her own after failing to find a partner. So she lines up a handsome sperm donor (an under-used Patrick Wilson) but the titular “switch” leaves her with the genetic material from Kassie’s best pal Wally (Bateman).
Flash forward seven years later, and Kassie’s adorable son (Thomas Robinson) looks and acts just like Wally, something that takes Wally by surprise in the film’s flimsiest plot device. How will the “switch” affect Wally and Kassie’s relationship, and could it push the duo out of the friendship zone into something … more?
“The Switch” isn’t as manic as your standard romantic comedy, so let’s all breathe a collective sigh of relief. The gimmick at its core is silly beyond measure, though, requiring our leads to ground the preposterous material.
They’re both up to the task, even if Aniston’s character is woefully underwritten. It isn’t enough to say a character is female, single and wants a baby. That’s a thumbnail sketch, nothing more.
The romantic chemistry between the actors doesn’t crackle. It wouldn’t even shock you if you rubbed it on shag carpeting.
What we’re left with are the comic performances which are solid throughout. That’s especially true whenever Jeff Goldblum appears as Wally’s boss and sounding board. Their scenes together are flat out terrific – so how about re-teaming them in a road picture ASAP?
Juliette Lewis does similar honors for Kassie, but she simply recycles her wild child screen persona with predictable results.
“The Switch” isn’t the disaster its release date portends – late August is hardly Ground Zero for comedy gold. But it’s a fine platform to show just what Bateman can do.
DIRECTOR: Josh Gordon, Will Speck SCREENWRITER: Allan Loeb, Jeffrey Eugenides PRODUCERS: Jennifer Aniston, Albert Berger, Ron Yerxa, Allan Loeb CAST: Jason Bateman, Jeffifer Aniston, Jeff Goldblum, Juliette Lewis MPAA RATING: PG-13
Christian Toto is a Denver-based arts reporter, print and radio film critic and movie blogger (www.whatwouldtotowatch.com)
