Wednesday, September 28, 2011

3 Short Paragraphs: The Switch

2011, Josh Gordon, Will Speck (two directors? never bodes well...) -- download


This chick-flick was actually not downloaded by me but when Marmy asked if I wanted to watch, as she was starting, I sat in. I like Jason Bateman a lot more of late so I was willing to sit through, for at least some material to add here. I also needed to separate it in my mind from the other Bateman vehicle involving a switch, but a body switch.  The funny thing is that I ended up really enjoying the movie with Bateman's ever-sweatered & neurotic Wally Mars re-creating an About a Boy vibe but without being the self-serving ass that Hugh Grant was.

Wally loves his best friend Kassie (Jennifer Aniston) and always has. They tried dating but it didn't work out. She moved on, he didn't, typical story. But she doesn't have Wally's excuse for never solidifying a relationship and so now finds herself of an age where she is considering having a baby sans-daddy.  Well, not biologically sans-daddy (different movie) but relationship wise and chooses a Mr. Wonderful to ... er... seed her.  Add in one "insemination party" where a plastered Wally accidentally spills... the seed and has to replace it by... well, spilling his seed and you have the movie title.  You would think that would be the focal point of a movie that was supposed to be called The Baster but in fact, its a setup for the rest of the movie -- fatherhood.

Time fast-forwards and Wally & Kassie's son (she doesn't know; still thinks Mr Wonderful helped her out) ends up having to hang around Wally a lot more.  The best part of the movie is watching their relationship build. OK, almost the best part.  That really does fall to the hilarious scenes with Jeff Goldblum as Wally's boss, ever dispensing no-nonsense advice that Wally has probably ignored for years. But watching Wally & Sebastian interact with snappy dialogue capturing what must have come from  the short story, is delightful. Considering all the genre violence and darkness I watch, it was a nice break.

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