Change-Up, The : Movie Review


The Change-Up has designs of being the next big raunchy comedy of the Summer of 2011, following on the heels of Bridesmaids, The Hangover Part II, Bad Teacher, and Horrible Bosses. However, while there's sufficient profanity, sex, nudity, and excrement to justify the R-rating, it's hard to argue that The Change-Up pushes envelopes. Distilled to its basics, it's little more than a sit-com that has been tarted up with scenes of projectile poop, odd sexual fetishes, and knife wielding babies. It all seems a little tired and, more importantly, not as funny as it should be.

I have heard The Change-Up described as "Freaky Friday for adults," which is grossly inaccurate (accent on "gross"). The only thing The Change-Up has in common with Freaky Friday (both the original and the remake) is that both involve body swaps. This is an old and not well-regarded genre. Most of its entries are horrible, a few are watchable, and it's hard to come up with one that lives up to its potential. It should be noted that The Change-Up is not Like Father, Like Son bad, but neither does it set a new standard for this kind of movie. Tone down the profanity, limit the kinky sex, and this would make a passable 9 p.m. weekly network TV show. I wouldn't watch it, but I don't watch much TV.

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Author : James Berardinelli