Jason Bateman makes a standout straight man in The Change-Up.
Gross-out gags are as abundant as CGI effects this summer but it takes a comedy straight man to make it all work.
Thankfully, Jason Bateman; star of sitcom classic Arrested Development and supporting player of standout movies Up in the Air and Juno, arrives just when you need his deadpan delivery most.
Bateman, just seen in Horrible Bosses as a bullied employee who plots with his two equally abused pals to axe their bosses, partners with Ryan Reynolds on The Change-Up, a rowdy version of Freaky Friday as well as a laundry list of other switcheroo comedies.
Director David Dobkin, who has the classic buddy comedy Wedding Crashes under his belt, comes up a little short on the jokes with The Change-Up. Still, there’s no denying the fun watching Bateman fumble his way through one outrageous stunt after another.
Bateman’s buttoned-down married guy Dave Lockwood switches bodies with his bachelor best friend Mitch (Reynolds) thanks to peeing simultaneously into a public fountain.
When city workers dig up and relocate the “magic” fountain, Dave and Mitch remain stuck in their switched bodies and different lifestyles. Of course, switching lives brings some valuable lessons in addition to more outrageous behavior.
The Change-Up, written by Hangover scribes Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, claims some of the grossest gags of all the summer’s shock comedies but it’s nowhere near the funniest of the bunch.
Lockwood receives a mouthful of doo while changing his infant son’s diaper. Later in the movie, Lockwood’s pretty wife (Leslie Mann) plops on the toilet complaining about eating too much Thai food and lets everything loose. A lot of the dialogue focuses on pregnant pick-ups and why married men allow their private areas to get so bushy when single guys know women like them “clean shaven.”
Once the gross-out gags fade, Bateman stands tall as the straight man the movie needs to make sense of all the R-rated silliness.
As Mitch, a struggling actor and successful ladies’ man, Reynolds gets to act without boundaries of good behavior and he has fun playing the horniest guy imaginable.
Leslie Mann matches the boys in the gross-out category with her own burst of toilet humor but after her standout gag she fades into the wallpaper.
Olivia Wilde, so much fun in Cowboys & Aliens, is little more than eye candy as Lockwood’s pretty coworker at the law office where he works.
Dobkin and co-writers Lucas and Moore do a fine job piling up the comic shocks. Where they come up short, and where the film stumbles, is failing to build up the relationship between Dave and Mitch.
It’s a surprising letdown from the scribes who did a great job creating the buddy vibe for the Wolfpack boys in The Hangover movies.
It’s not enough that The Change-Up does a great job providing the shocks. Just like Bridesmaids and The Hangover Part II, it takes believable friendships for the gross-out gags to truly matter.
ADD YOUR MOVIE REVIEW FOR THE CHANGE-UP!
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Director: David Dobkin
Scriptwriter: Jon Lucas, Scott Moore
Cinematographer: Eric Edwards
Cast: Jason Bateman, Ryan Reynolds, Leslie Mann, Olivia Wilde, Alan Arkin
Production Designer: Barry Robison
Music Supervisor: Jon Debney
Editor: Lee Haxall, Greg Hayden
Running Time: 112 minutes
Producers: Big Kid Pictures, Original Film, Relativity Media
Rating: Rated R
Release Date: August 5, 2011