An Extremely Skippable R-Rated Switcheroo

THE CHANGE-UP (Dir. David Dobkin, 2011)

Let me just start by putting this out there – I like both of these guys.



Jason Bateman is an effective everyman who has shined in a string of lame ass comedies (this summer's HORRIBLE BOSSES isn't bad actually), and Ryan Reynolds can be obnoxious sure, but there's a good actor underneath all that smarm (see last year's BURIED if you don't believe me).



But this gross-out switcheroo puts their likability to the test. The premise of body switching was tired back in the late '80s, and smothering it in profanity and loads of disgusting pee, poop, and porn jokes does nothing to freshen it up.



In the first couple of minutes of the film there's a baby feces scene that unfortunately sets the terrible tone. I won't go into any detail, I'll just say that so much of the movie consists of things that most people would pay not to see.



So we have Bateman as a settled down family man, Reynolds a hard partying womanizer living in Atlanta (the location really doesn't matter except in skyline shots and a few minor references - it could've been set anywhere) who drunkenly one night when peeing in a fountain say in unison "I wish I had your life!"



The next morning they wake up and are in each other's bodies and have to deal with it - and so do we.



Bateman's wife doesn't believe them, and they find that the fountain has been moved so they are stuck in this filthy FACE OFF predicament for a few weeks until they find out where the Zoltar Speaks machine, sorry the fountain, was moved.



The only slightly amusing factor is Bateman and Reynold's mimicry of each other's amped up antics, otherwise this is a profoundly unfunny experience that just makes you feel sorry for everybody involved including Olivia Wilde (COWBOYS AND ALIENS) and Alan Arkin who luckily is only in a couple brief scenes.



This hasn't been the greatest summer for comedies, but this is the lowest of the low. Even if you're looking for a air conditioned reprieve from the current extreme heat, I'd opt for sweating. The stench with that is so much more bearable.



More later...

I LOVE YOU PHILLIP MORRIS: The Film Babble Blog Review

I LOVE YOU PHILLIP MORRIS (Dirs. Glenn Ficcara & John Requa, 2010)

"This really happened. It really did."

So says the lower case white block letters floating in the blue sky and clouds at the beginning of this quirky unconventional rom com.

Unconventional because it centers on slick conman Jim Carrey courting a demure Ewan McGregor from the first moment they meet in a Texas prison.

Carrey tells us early on in his pithy narration that he's "gay, gay, gay, gay, gay" after introducing his wife (Leslie Mann) and baby girl and the film never lets us forget it mostly by way of countless blowjob jokes.

Doing time for insurance fraud, Carrey falls hard for McGregor (doing a fairly convincing Southern accent that echoes of BIG FISH) and does what he can to be with him including among various escapes faking his death from AIDs.

The first half of the film is relatively entertaining and breezy but the second half loses its already shaky focus. Carrey puts in a fairly typical performance exercising his facial expressions and smarm, but McGregor fairs better as he shows less self conscious effort.

Unfortunately the story, "based on certain facts", isn't really that compelling. It's kind of amusing to see Carrey execute cons such as charmingly bluff his way into a corporate job but the film blurs into repetition as our protagonist keeps getting apprehended by police scheme after scheme.

Not sure what the film wants us to take away from this story. It feels almost homophobic in its humor but I truly don't think directors and screenwriters Ficarra and Requa meant to craft a hate piece.

When Carrey's ex-wife Leslie Mann asks with concern if stealing and being gay are connected - it's meant as a joke about her naive character, but its a question that sadly lingers over this undercooked material.

If we're supposed to laugh at Carrey as he lies his way through life we're not given much to laugh at for I LOVE YOU PHILLIP MORRIS isn't as clever and funny as it pretends to be.

It's a forgettable little lark of a film - a frothy throwaway that has its moments but this season a movie-goer could do way better.

More later...