Best friends Wally (Jason Bateman) and Kassie (Jennifer Aniston) get along great in NY until her biological clock revs up and she chooses artificial insemination. This creates envy in Wally but he can't express how he feels. At her pregnancy party, Wally (in a drunken stupor) accidentally ruins the donor's specimen and is forced to provide his own. Years later, she returns to NY with her son who forms an immediate bond with Wally. But the presumed donor Roland (Patrick Wilson) is now divorced and making his move . . .
Bateman is excellent during the first half as he sarcastically deals with the clueless and pretentious. I particularly enjoyed his response after Roland says he teaches feminist literature. Bateman and Jeff Goldblum (as a workplace colleague) are hilarious together. Goldblum's syncopated rhythms are memorable as usual. During the second half, Bateman is surprisingly touching as he discovers his paternal instincts. Aniston and Wilson fare much worse, mostly since their characters are woefully underwritten. But the main problem with the movie is that it becomes painfully predictable during the last third. Wally has to tell Kassie the truth but he keeps getting interrupted. Again and again. The film limps across the finish line after starting pretty good. Bateman fans will like it better than most. B-
Medical mistake: The kid has brown eyes while Bateman, Aniston, and Wilson all have blue eyes. This is genetically impossible.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
The Switch - B-
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Yes! The blue eyes/brown eyes part was driving me crazy. In that scene where Aniston and the donor are at the cafe and the camera is lingering on their blue, blue eyes, I thought maybe that would be a plot point. But I guess nobody's character had high school biology.
Of course, I later noticed that Bateman's eyes don't appear to be brown, either - maybe hazel? But Aniston should have been suspicious as soon as she saw Roland's eyes.
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