The Change-Up

http://www.thechangeupmovie.com/

I'm sure I've mentioned before that I'm quite fond of Ryan Reynolds. As such, it was a bit of a no-brainer that I would go and see The Change-Up. Though if I'm honest, it was a similar situation to the previous film I reviewed, I Don't Know How She Does It, as I thought the trailer looked awful.

In the film, Reynolds plays Mitch, an 'actor' who spends the majority of his days smoking weed and playing video games. His dad, Mitch Snr (the underrated Alan Arkin), thinks it's about time he grew up. Mitch's best friend is Dave (Jason Bateman), who by comparison is very grown up. He's about to make partner at his law firm and has a wife and three kids. That is until fate steps in and switches Mitch and Dave into each other's bodies. Dave becomes Mitch and Mitch becomes Dave. Following this unwanted transformation, they must not only find a way to rectify the situation, and fast, but they must also learn how to live each other's lives without raising suspicion of those closest to them.

We've all seen films like this before, Big and Freaky Friday are just two that spring to mind, and as such, this is not a new idea. It's also not a particularly fresh take on the story of body swaps, uptight guy with responsibilities gets to do as he pleases while slacker boy has to knuckle down and prove his worth.

The two leads here are what make a tired situation enjoyable. Both are believable as men with responsibilities and men who'd rather not have grown up at all. It helps that both Reynolds and Bateman have good comic timing, and make for convincing buddies. Fine support is also given by Olivia Wilde and Leslie Mann as Dave's law firm associate and Dave's wife respectively. Leslie Mann in particular kind of overshadows everyone else by putting in a rather moving performance at times.

There are nice little touches in this film which do set it apart from similar films of old, Leslie Mann's performance is one of them. The others are more subtle things like Dave's (and in turn Mitch as Dave) relationship with his daughter, which is a nice side story. As is Mitch's (and in turn Dave as Mitch) relationship with his father. Having said that, there are also things which set this film apart in a bad way. Like the amount of breasts you see in this film. I'm no prude but it honestly felt like all of the women in this film were only allowed in it if they were naked at least once. It was a little more flesh than I personally thought was necessary but I'm sure any men reading this will disagree. There were also slightly too many poo jokes or poo references for my liking. We're not 5 and that's when poo jokes stopped being funny.

So to sum up, the film doesn't really shed any new light on an old story but it's entertaining nonetheless. 6.5 out of 10.

Viewing Date ~ 18th September 2011

UK Release Date ~ 16th September 2011

Cast Overview:

Ryan Reynolds ~ Mitch Planko

Jason Bateman ~ Dave Lockwood

Leslie Mann ~ Jamie Lockwood

Olivia Wilde ~ Sabrina McArdle

Alan Arkin ~ Mitch Planko Snr

Director ~ David Dobkin

Writer(s) ~ Jon Lucas and Scott Moore

Horrible Bosses

http://horriblebossesmovie.warnerbros.com

The second movie of my birthday movie double bill was Horrible Bosses. This was mostly due to the lack of anything else being out. Some of my friends are not into Harry Potter (shocking I know) and most have already seen Transformers 3. So aside from Cars 2, which I'd already seen earlier in the day, that left Horrible Bosses.

As well as having a horrible title, Horrible Bosses also has, as you might have guessed, three horrible bosses, one for each of the main characters. Nick (Jason Bateman) has to put up with Dave (Kevin Spacey) and his constant attempts to make Nick look bad. Dave basically undermines Nick at every available opportunity, as well as robbing him of a promotion he's been working tirelessly for. Dale (Charlie Day) has a female boss, Julia (Jennifer Aniston), who is sexually harassing him. And finally Kurt (Jason Sudeikis) has a boss he loves, Jack (Donald Sutherland), who dies and leaves his coke addicted son Bobby (Colin Farrell) in charge. They seek advice on how to pull off the perfect murders of their bosses. But will everything go to plan?

I think it was a massive coup that this film managed to get Kevin Spacey on board, it gives the movie some much needed credibility and is especially impressive given that Mr Spacey tends to be more of a behind the scenes and theatre man at the moment. The downside to having Kevin Spacey is that he seems to have only agreed to make the movie because it allowed him to re-play his character from Swimming With Sharks. Which is a great movie by the way, if you haven't seen it. But not so good for Horrible Bosses.

The other not-so-good thing about Horrible Bosses is the timing of it's release. I can't help but think that it has been released at a horrible time. It's summer, where if you're not a blockbuster, you're only options are to be an interesting indie pic/film based on true events or a comedy that happens to be a huge sleeper hit. Well with names like Spacey, Farrell and Aniston, you're not an indie. And let's face it, Bridesmaids has been the comedy hit of the summer and I don't think this is going to knock the tiara off it's head.

So I feel bad, because Horrible Bosses is not that bad a film (especially given that it's a Jennifer Aniston movie). If it was released at any other time I feel it would have a decent chance as it's quite funny, it's got good actors in it and it's got a nice not-too-complicated plot. But this isn't any other time, so Horrible Bosses is probably going to get a horrible opening weekend. Plus it's gone up against Pixar, Harry Potter and Transformers. Massive fail.

However, if you've not got kids or have seen the other three then give Horrible Bosses a go. It won't dazzle you but it might give you the occasional giggle. 6.5 out of 10.

Viewing Date - 26th July 2011

UK Release Date - 22nd July 2011

Cast Overview:

Jason Bateman ~ Nick Hendricks

Jason Sudeikis ~ Kurt Buckman

Charlie Day ~ Dale Arbus

Kevin Spacey ~ Dave Harken

Jennifer Aniston ~ Dr Julia Harris D.D.S.

Colin Farrell ~ Bobby Pelitt

Donald Sutherland ~ Jack Pelitt

Jamie Foxx ~ Dean 'MF' Jones

Lindsay Sloane ~ Stacy

Director ~ Seth Gordon

Writer(s) ~ Michael Markowitz (Screenplay and Story), John Francis Daley (Screenplay) and Jonathan Goldstein (Screenplay)