Saturday, August 28, 2010

Movie Review: THE SWITCH

Every so often there comes along a movie that most mainstream critics just don't like and I do. The Switch is one of those movies. Far nicer and sweeter than I expected, you may not LOVE this movie, but if it doesn't make you smile, there is something wrong with you.

Jennifer Aniston plays Kassie, a woman who is tired of waiting on a seemingly non-existent Mr. Right to start a family. She decides to find a donor who is tall and has a good sense of humor (traits not possessed by her best friend, the neurotic Wally (Jason Bateman)) and hold a very special gathering for friends and family. At this "insemination party", a very drunk Wally decides to 'switch' her donor's ingredient for his own, thus secretly hijacking her pregnancy. Fast-forward seven years and we meet Sebastian, Kassie's child, who is becoming more and more like his real father Wally by the day.

There is an underlying sad tension building all throughout the movie as we wait for the moment when Wally will put two and two together and remember what he did that fateful night, and then when he must reveal this dirty secret to Kassie. My guess is this is why some critics didn't like it. If you go into it with a better perspective though, it is more about how Wally decides he is ready to commit to this young child as a father, and how he is a better person for it, regardless of how everything ends up. A couple of scenes are downright touching, and the ending, while somewhat rushed and flawed, didn't ruin the story. I was not expecting much and in return got a whole lot. I would give The Switch a 7.5 out of 10.

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