In The Change Up, Mitch (Ryan Reynolds) and Dave (Jason Bateman) are two childhood best friends who’ve grown up leading two completely different lives.
Mitch dropped out of high school to become a serious actor (and by all accounts a bit of waster), but the work offers aren’t exactly flying in and so he spends most of his time womanising, sleeping or getting stoned. Dave on the other hand is a responsible married, father of three working for a prestigious law firm.
On a lads night out and after a few drinks whilst peeing in a fountain they discuss how the grass always seems to be greener for the other.
The next morning they awake to find they have magically switched bodies, and after realising it must have been the fountain they go back to find it.
The trouble is when they get there it’s been removed!
Forced to live each others lives until they can ‘Change Down’ (and try their best not to mess them up), after the initial shock subsides they start to appreciate the others lifestyle, and so the question is…. Will they ever want to swap back again?
Directed by David Dobkin, it’s lighthearted and brainless and there are similarities with another one of his ‘male bonding’ movies, The Wedding Crashers.
Body-swapping isn’t exactly a new recipe for comedy, but ‘The Change Up’ is by far the best of the bunch, it’s Freaky Friday meets The Hangover, full of cringe worthy moments and inappropriate jokes from beginning to end.
Leslie Mann plays Dave’s wife Jamie, (the second time she has played the wife of a man who has switched bodies, the other being 17 again) while Olivia Wilde plays Sabrina an associate at Dave’s law firm who Mitch has his sights on (warning trailer contains strong language).
The toilet humour, the swearing and the fact that Mann and Wilde are quite often not wearing very much indicates that this film is aimed mostly towards a male audience. That’s not to say if you’re a girl you won’t like it, I am most definitely female and absolutely loved it!
The Change Up is on general release in the UK from 16 September 2011.