Body-swapping movies have been done to death; everyone’s seen Big, Freaky Friday, 13 Going on 30, 17 Again, etc.; but The Change-Up is different, and aims to shake-up the genre by being the first truly adult-oriented body-swapping movie ever released, and actually manages to take what’s usually a child-friendly movie and inject it with some hilariously funny, R-rated, humour.
Jason Bateman (Paul) once again plays a Jason Bateman type character (something he’s grown exceptionally good at), as the straight-laced, cynical, father of three who seems disillusioned with life and wants nothing more than to give up his workaholic lifestyle and live like his best friend Mitch (Ryan Reynolds, The Green Lantern); a wannabe actor who sleeps with a string of women every night (some of whom are much more dangerous than the others), has no commitments of any kind, and simply lives to party and masturbate and would, in turn, love to have some of the comfort and structure he believes Dave (Bateman) has.
Needless to say, the pair soon find they’ve “pissed into a magic fountain”, wished for each others lives, and wake up in one another’s bodies; leading them to immediately hunt down the fountain, only to find it’s been removed and they won’t be able to see it for around another week, and subsequently try to live out one another’s lives for the duration.
Obviously both have various commitments the other must attend, Dave has to attempt to satisfy Mitch’s long list of lady friends, whilst also finding time to star in a fairly low budget (and not all that sexy) soft-core porn movie, while simultaneously Mitch must not only attend Dave’s job (at a time a prestigious law firm is considering making him a partner), but see to his family (not only raising the moral dilemma of what to do if Dave’s wife wants a little ‘quality’ time, but offering brilliant bullying advice to his young daughter, and hilariously fouling up with the younger two).
In fact Dave’s young twins provide the best laughs in the entire film, it’s all about watching Mitch mess up at being Dvae, and it’s truly hilarious watching the unique approach Dave has to parenting, but at the end of the day The Change-Up is just another body-swapping movie; while it might have it’s share of truly funny moments, have a great cast (Bateman and Reynolds are great in their respective roles, and well supported by Knocked Up’s Leslie Mann, and Cowboys & Aliens’ Olivia Wilde), throw some hilarious R-rated humour into a typically family genre, it still follows the same formula as the rest of the child-friendly movies it follows (where the guys wish for the change, hate the change, look to swap back, can’t, realize they’re actually having a good time in their new bodies, and learn a couple of life lessons right before the inevitable role-reversal), and as such The Change-Up definitely worth a watch, but it’s not exactly a comedy classic.
Picture:
Say what you will about the formulaic nature of the movie, and its possible over-reliance on F-bombs, there’s no denying that The Change-Up’s Blu-ray transfer looks stunning; featuring deeply rich and near flawless black levels, superb contrast and colour reproduction, excellent textures and an eye-popping level of fine detail (which is so good it actually harms the transfer in some parts; pointing out the flaws in the film’s less than impressive cgi effects), as well as solid (though occasionally over-saturated) fleshtones and delineation, without any noticeable print errors; making for an easy watch, and a transfer arguably better than The Change-Up deserves.
Audio:
While still solid The Change-Up’s audio (a 5.1 DTS-HD MA mix) doesn’t quite hold up to the same scrutiny; it’s well mixed, contains enough ambient effects to keep the rear channels busy and craft some pretty realistic soundscapes, and although the bass is well used (what little of it there is anyway), there’s a couple of decent directional effects, and some impressive music reproduction, the majority of the audio is anchored in the front and centre channels and consists of mainly dialogue (which is all excellently reproduced, and easily intelligible), meaning that while what’s here does sound good, it’s still not likely to blow anyone away, or remain especially memorable.
Extras:
The Change-Up does come to Blu-ray with all the special features and bonus content you’d expect from a modern comedy; including a gag reel (which isn’t actually that funny, and just shows the actors fouling up their lines), a deleted scene (Which was rightfully cut), an audio commentary (from which both Bateman and Reynolds are strangely absent, and sorely missed), a making of (which feels much more like a promo piece), and effects featurette; yet while the majority of the features are bland and easily skippable, it’s always nice to have both the theatrical and unrated versions of the film available on one disc, and the inclusion of a digital copy.
The Bottom Line:
Far from the genre-busting laugh-a-minute it was supposed to be, The Change-Up is a funny movie, with a few truly hilarious moments, and a great pair of lead actors, that make it well worth a watch.
Picture and audio quality, as well as the selection of special features available, also mean that Blu-ray is definitely the way to go with this movie, but seen as how The Change-Up is a comedy that’s good, but not great, it’s a film that you should really rent before blind buying.
