Movie Review - The Change Up

Been recently invited by omy.sg to the movie preview of The Change Up.

At one point or another, I think most of us would've looked someone else's lifestyle and secretly hoped that "Man, I hope I had his/her life". Well, be careful what you wish for, cos you just might get it!

Coming at you from the director of Wedding Crashers, writers of The Hangover, and producer of Click, The Change-Up is a comedy that takes the traditional body-switching movie, ties it up tightly and throws it off a cliff!

Probably we've seen many movies or tv dramas where cases of identity switch takes place. And I thought to myself, probably this movie would be just another boring plot but I was pleasantly surprised at how much I adored this mean spirited and riotous comedy!

I just can't get enough of these mean M-18 comedies, that really take advantage of their rating. This particular film is by far the dirtiest film of the summer as it holds no bars having Jason Bateman spitting out 'F-words' every ten seconds or having a large quantity of nudity throughout, which doesn't mean the kind of nudity you would expect from a gut M-rated comedy.

It was funny seeing Ryan Reynolds and Bateman playing their opposites. In pretty much all of Bateman's films and specific roles in shows, he's always portraying the shy man, not a real ladies man, the fatherly figure where on the other hand, Reynolds always plays a ladies man. For Bateman's character in Reynold's body, he hilariously portrays a nice, quiet man who doesn't have much control over things. Vice versa, we have a swearing, tough talking lawyer who doesn't have any idea what it means to be crossing the line. Aside from our two leads, we have an always funny Leslie Mann, the new and beautiful Olivia Wilde, who is as stunning as ever.

I do think that the movie is abit long, which is one of the fallback, they could have cut at least twenty minutes from the film and still have it be perfectly acceptable. 'The Change-Up' is a great summer romp, but it is certainly not for the squeamish or the easily offended.

Movie Rating: 3.5/5
This is a rated M-18 movie (Mild nudity, coarse language)

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Synopsis:
Growing up together, Mitch (Reynolds) and Dave (Bateman) were inseparable best friends, but as the years have passed they've slowly drifted apart. While Dave is an overworked lawyer, husband and father of three, Mitch has remained a single, quasi-employed man-child who has never met a responsibility he liked.

To Mitch, Dave has it all: beautiful wife Jamie (Leslie Mann), kids who adore him and a high-paying job at a prestigious law firm. To Dave, living Mitch's stress free life without obligation or consequence would be a dream come true. Following a drunken night out together, Mitch and Dave's worlds are turned upside down when they wake up in each other's bodies and proceed to freak the &*#@ out. Despite the freedom from their normal routines and habits, the guys soon discover that each other's lives are nowhere near as rosy as they once seemed. Further complicating matters are Dave's sexy legal associate, Sabrina (Olivia Wilde), and Mitch's estranged father (Alan Arkin).

With time not on their side, Mitch and Dave comically struggle to avoid completely destroying each other's lives before they can find a way to get their old ones back.

Cast:
Ryan Reynolds (The Proposal, Green Lantern), Jason Bateman (Hancock, Horrible Bosses), Leslie Mann, Olivia Wilde, Alan Arkin