The Change-Up Review

The Change-Up Review

There are moments in The Change-Up that are very clever and funny, and then there is the moments when you have to wonder if they were just seeing what they could get away with and still get an R rating. Imagine for a moment that you are at a party and someone is telling you a joke, and then some buffoon jumps in and tells the punchline in the most vulgar way possible, ruining both the joke and your appetite for the evening. If you can imagine that scenario then you can imagine just how this movie makes you feel.

The plot of The Change-Up is a simple retread of the Freaky Friday story. In it two characters, who usually don't understand one another, flip flop bodies through some unknown magic and have to live trapped in the body of the other. Usually in these movies the trick is to learn about the other person, to gain an understanding of what it is like to literally walk a mile in their shoes, before you are allowed to return to your own body. The thing that separates The Change-Up from other movies of its kind is that in this movie, both characters know exactly what kind of guy the other is.

It is not often that you see protagonists in a comedy act like such stereotypical douche bags, that it makes you dislike the entire movie. Jason Bateman plays Dave, a family man with a wife and three kids. Dave is mostly an absentee father however because he is also a workaholic lawyer. Dave has a big merger coming up and the switch couldn't have come at a worse time. Ryan Reynolds plays Mitch, a semi employed, actor/stoner who only works at scoring chicks, and who's taste in women is questionable to say the least. Mitch has just scored a major role in a new movie and the switch could not have come at a worse time for him as well.

When the two switch bodies there is the traditional hijinks that accompany movies like this. Mitch impersonating Dave at a business meeting, Dave impersonating Mitch on the movie set. There are also scenes where the philandering Mitch attempts to sleep with Dave's wife, while across town Dave struggles with the morality of cheating on his wife while inside Mitch's body. Like all traditional body swapping comedies, there is the moment of clarity when the other character realizes that everyone's got problems and yours are probably just as bad as mine. The Change-Up however decided to go a more selfish route, Mitch and Dave discover that other people don't like them very much, and who could blame them. Both guys are really miserable characters, albeit for different reasons. In the end it is up to them to stop being jerks and start being better people.

As I stated before this movie is beyond vulgar. I appreciate vulgarity, I even find it amusing often. Ever since the Hangover, people in hollywood are constantly trying to one up the raunch quota. They should instead focus on making a funny movie first. The Change-Up is another example of taking vulgarity too far. It often goes well past the point of being humorous, and while it doesn't ever cross the line of offensive it sometimes cuts it close. Whether it is projectile fecal matter, very public urination, or even three guys staring into a woman's crotch, the movie takes things just a bit too far. You start to laugh but then are immediately taken out of the mood because it becomes repellent.

Overall the movie is regrettably just another rehash of a well worn subject. Yes it takes it to a more adult level, but much if not all of the crude humor could have been replaced and been just as good, if not funnier. Part of me feels like the creators of the movie had a great outline for a script and just got lazy with the writing and figured that they could fill the remaining holes in the movie with really dirty jokes.

Bridesmaids Review

Bridesmaids Review

There is a profound and significant difference between men and women, so it is no surprise that a movie which claims to be the female version of “The Hangover” is profoundly and significantly different. Bridesmaids is a smart, sweet, clever, and extremely funny movie. It is not nearly as raunchy, or as debaucherous as it’s trailers, and ads suggest. I am not saying that is a bad thing, but don’t go into this movie expecting naked asian men jumping from the trunk of a car.

As I said above the movie is very funny, but sometimes there are moments of real awkwardness, which while funny are so painful to watch you just want them to end.  I found that most of the movie could fall into three categories: The awkward, too painful to watch, so it is funny comedy; the over the top crazy behavior, so it is funny comedy; and the gross out defecating in the street, so it’s funny comedy. Of course the reality is that all of the things that happen in the movie could easily happen to anyone and that is what makes the movie so honest, and funny.

Kristin Wiig plays Annie, a thirty something woman who’s failure in love is only matched by her failure in business, and well to be honest, life in general.  Annie has been having a very rough few months. First, her bakery business failed. Second her boyfriend dumped her, and her current “man friend,” played pitch perfectly by Jon Hamm is a stereotypical male douche bag ("I really just want you to leave, but I don't want to sound like a dick.") And lastly her roommates are a couple of English twits who are equal parts creepy, mildly incestuous and generally nauseating. All of this is where Annie starts out, and we spend most of the movie watching in horror as she collapses further and further until she eventually hits rock bottom.  When she does hit bottom she proceeds to have a final cataclysmic tantrum that can only be analogous to a three year old's tantrum. Despite being difficult to watch, it is hilarious, and one of the most memorable moments in the movie.  The entire cast is very well put together, adding the perfect amount of spice to this cupcake of a movie.  My only worry is that the cast is so large that some characters (two in particular) are given too little to do, and in my opinion may have a boatload of unused jokes on the cutting room floor.

There is a line when a comedy goes too far, when a movie takes that joke too far, and it becomes unfunny, or in poor taste.  This line serves as a point in which a joke should be taken to, but not past. It is a delicate and fine line to be sure, and because of that comedy is the most difficult thing to to well. My only complaint about Bridesmaids is that it is too afraid to pass that line. In fact more often than not it prevents itself from even getting close to it.  I started my review talking about the profound and significant differences between men and women.  Bridesmaids is going to serve as a perfect example of this statement.  The movie will more than likely be perceived, especially by women, as an instant classic. I don’t think that many men will agree.  I, as a man, agree that it is a good movie, but I cannot agree with anyone who claims that Bridesmaids is an instant classic.  The movie is successful at being funny, and at least two moments in the movie left me bent over, and in tears; however, it is hard to respect a movie when it forcibly pulls it’s own punches.  The fact that the movie refuses to take risks is why I cannot call it an instant classic.

Let me know what you think when you see the movie.