I’d say it was “foul tipped”
Grab your seats, class is in session.
Albeit a short and sweet class, but in session none the less.
So I tossed a coin over the weekend as to whether to go see Cowboys and Aliens or The Change Up. I was in the mood for a much needed comedy outing, so I went with the Change Up.
The upfront verdict? Not a great movie by any stretch of the imagination, but pretty damn funny. Granted, I didn’t go in expecting anything special. It’s not a new concept. It’s a body switch movie. It’s been done dozens of times by Disney alone, let alone other movie companies. There wasn’t going to be anything ground breaking in this flick, and I knew that. What I was looking for was to see how it was handled and just how many boundaries they were willing to push. While it was never totally over the top, they certain peaked over the edge a few times.
Now, to understand why I enjoyed the comedic aspect of the movie, let me throw some names at you: Jim Norton. Patrice O’Neal. Robert “Bobby” Kelly. Bill Burr. Louis CK. These are the names of most of my favorite comedians. These guys are filthy and I love it. They are my kind of humor and this movie leans very much in that directions. I mean, the movie opens with Jason Bateman getting bazooka shat on by one of his twin babies. Terrible CGI depicting it, very childish intent, but it’s that childish intent that makes it funny. I want adult, non-P.C. humor in my movies. At one point, Ryan Reynolds character tells Bateman he’s pretty sure his infant son “has a touch of the Downs in him.” Hilarious. And in all honesty, refreshing. It was refreshing to see another movie lean more away from worrying about what people think and just going for the brutal laugh. When it comes to going for the adult type laughs via a “straight” man and his essentially dead-beat best friend, you may not have found a better pair then Reynolds and Bateman. From his days in Arrested Development, Bateman has always proved he can be the deadpan, hilarious straight man, which he always does well. Reynolds, well…while most people don’t like Reynolds, I do, and when he’s in a movie like this, where he can use his quick comic timing, he’s even better.
Unfortunately, where the movie falls short is like I said earlier: it’s really nothing new. Two friends, one a family man who feels he lost his younger years to responsibility, and the other, the womanizing 30something man going on 7, with no real responsibilities who wants to do no more than sleep til noon, get high, and screw off. They each learn valuable lessons by being the other and in the end, want their own lives back. I know I don’t really give spoilers, but come on. If you didn’t know that was how the movie ended, we need to have you fitted for a helmet before you hurt yourself. I realize that with this kind of movie, there really isn’t anyplace new you can go, but there is always a chance. You could let the straight man actually do what he wants to do in the body of the his friend. You could let him have sex with the office secretary he finds so attractive. I’m not sure how you would work that out in the end, but hey, it’s a different direction.
The one other thing I can give this movie is real simple: Olivia Wilde. You could put her in a movie where it’s her in a chair reading the dictionary and I would watch all day. Something about her eyes just makes me want to stalk her.
Ok, bit of a weird tangent there. Anyway, like I said, this isn’t a great movie, but it’s not terrible. Probably more of a rental in the long run, but definitely a good rental. I’ll personally buy it when it comes out because I enjoyed it enough for that. Plus I can pause all the Olivia Wilde scenes, especially towards the end of the movie….
Not sure what’s going to be next. Still want to see Cowboys and Aliens, but we also have Conan, and Fright Night coming soon, both of which I want to see.
That’s all for now.
Class dismissed.
