What Do The Critics Say?
"The key attraction for an audience is the pain and embarrassment the characters: and their family, friends; may have to go through on the journey of discovery toward self awareness. But the real key to the film's success is the tone: this will determine what sort of audience appeal it has. The Change Up has a tone that appeals to audiences who crave crude, toilet based humour with as many mentions of penis or balls as the script can manage, as much titillation as it can muster."
Andrew L Urban URBAN CINEFILE
"The jokes here are consistent and Reynolds and Bateman have a great time playing off each others' stock character. Olivia Wilde joins in as a love interest for Dave/Mitch. "The Change-Up" is a decent silly movie nearly overwhelmed by its own filthy mouth and mind. A thoroughly silly, intermittently hilarious reworking of the Freaky Friday body-switch concept."
Tom Long DETROIT NEWS
"Reynolds speaks in obscenities the way bad bakeries use cupcake icing, and Bateman is almost bitterly uptight. But the movie largely fulfills the promise of the swap. Without sex getting much in the way, this movie persuasively equates attraction to a man’s life with envy of his penis. Bateman essentially tells Reynolds how to use his penis: on that pregnant woman, on the set of an adult movie, and, in one fascinatingly odd, loosely bold, ultimately meek telephone conversation, on himself."
Wesley Morris BOSTON GLOBE
"The Change-Up takes the body-swap comedy and gives it a gross-out, male-humour makeover. The film owes a great deal of its success to its two male leads. The roles initially have the actors working firmly in their comfort zones, but the real fun of The Change-Up comes after the switch, with Bateman basically putting on his best Reynolds impersonation, and vice versa. Fans will get a massive kick out of seeing both actors play so against-type. The Change-Up mines a tired formula for new laughs, making it the perfect movie for a night out with the guys."
William Kostakis MOVIEFIX
"The Change Up feels as fresh as a new pair of diapers, in this upbeat body switch movie in which a workaholic lawyer and his dope-smoking best friend find themselves literally in each other's shoes. The credibility of the two leading men whose lusts for life are re-examined plays its part in the success of the film. Bateman and Reynolds deliver in spades with strong support by Mann as the insecure wife and Wilde, the tattooed, wild-child Sabrina. Guaranteed laughs for a feel-good change-up."
Louise Keller URBAN CINEFILE
"The Change-Up is a body-swap comedy in the mould of Freaky Friday. Reynolds: who sweats charisma from his pores; has the most fun as the foul-mouthed underachieverThe arc of the story should be groan worthy, but there's an admirable earnestness on screen, and the actors sell it, especially when Mann finds herself agonising over the state of her marriage."
Joshua Blackman FILMINK
"It's always fun to see good actors ape each other (think Face/Off) and a particular joy to see Bateman get to cut loose. The Change-Up is a sort of raunchy "It's a Wonderful Life", though the plentiful nudity and babbling brooks of profanity tip the scale from sensitivity to outrageousness."
Peter Canavese GROUCHO REVIEWS
"Scores points for generating lots of laughter. It breaks new ground and goes in unexpected directions. New words and phrases added to your vocabulary include 'lorno' and the 'cancer list'. If you are in the mood for the outrageous, preposterous and ridiculous, this comedy provides a two-hour escape from reality. This guilty pleasure will appeal primarily to teenagers and young married couples."
Keith Cohen THE MOVIE GUY
The Inside Story
For "Clay Pigeons" director David Dobkin, the premise of two best friends who are in desperate need of a big change, was one that he found fertile ground for comedy. When he was given the new script from Jon Lucas and Scott Moore (the writing team who created 2009’s record-breaking blockbuster "The Hangover"), the "Wedding Crashers" director was quickly drawn into their engaging story. "I look for ideas and scripts that are very comedic, but also have elements that say something and resonate with people. As a filmmaker, you want to take an idea that feels personal, turn it on its head and actually say something about it. With this story, there’s that wonderful aspect of walking in someone’s shoes and getting to understand why they’ve made the choices they’ve made." Dobkin felt that Lucas and Moore’s take on the body-switching genre pushed the envelope with its raunchy humor, but it didn’t sacrifice the heart that would allow the audience to connect with the characters. "This script was so intelligently written, and I have to give credit to Lucas and Moore because they nailed it with a very comical, revealing look into the world of men and what we think about love and sex. There is an incredibly intricate structure to this script, and it was one of the funniest I have ever read. Lucas and Moore are such masterful writers that they make things seem easy, when in fact there’s been a tremendous amount of thought and depth beneath the surface. It may not be apparent when you first read the script, but once you start pulling it apart, you realize the complexities of it and how much art and effort went into its construction." So where did Lucas and Moore ("Ghosts of Girlfriends Past") find their inspiration? "Once a month, I have dinners where a bunch of guys get together," Lucas revealed. "At first it was one other guy and me who were the married ones, and all the single guys would laugh at us because our views were so insanely wrong about what it’s like being single. The conversations were like talking to people who were just pulled out of the jungle and didn’t understand how electricity works. I would ask dumb questions like 'What exactly do you say to women when you meet?,' and they would ask questions like 'You’re married: do you have sex once or twice a day?' Conversations from those nights: and how misunderstood we were to each other; got into the script and became the backbone of the film." Lucas and Moore constructed a tale of Dave Lockwood and Mitch Planko: best friends since childhood; now grown men struggling to maintain a waning friendship. While Dave is a successful type 'A' lawyer who is married with three children, Mitch is single, barely employed and chasing women like he was still in college. Dave finds maintaining their friendship a chore. Mitch just wants his old buddy back. When the two friends meet up for drinks at a local bar and compare their lives, each is a bit smitten by the other’s situation. Mitch looks upon Dave’s stable home life, with a supportive wife and beautiful children, with rose-colored glasses. Mitch can’t understand why every moment in life shouldn’t be pleasurable and irresponsible, but he is envious of how Dave seems to keep all of his family duties in line and be so successful in his career. The night ends with their getting drunk and peeing in the fountain of the Greek goddess Metis as they argue about how they wish they could be in the other’s shoes. When they wake up, the shape-shifting goddess of wisdom has, as things go in these tales, granted their wish. And how did Dobkin come it into the mix? The writers approached Dobkin with their screenplay, because they were sure he was the right choice for the material.
"We first met David years ago, working on "Wedding Crashers", and ever since then Jon and I have wanted to do another project with him. He totally gets story, comedy, and he has really nice hair," Moore recalls. "David has an ability to juggle comedy and heart, which this movie requires. Along with being huge fans of his work, we knew he was married and has two little kids, so he could relate to the material. You don’t have to have woken up with a screaming baby at 1:00 a.m., 3:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. to direct this movie, but it helps," Lucas notes. For Dobkin, a body-switching movie was never one he thought he would tackle, but the director was intrigued by the circumstances that could be comically explored when best friends are forced to live each other’s lives. "There are body-switching films that I love, like "Face-Off" and "Freaky Friday", but it is a genre of film that I never wanted to do. It is a testament to how superb the writing was that it drew me into the project." During the film’s development process, producer Neal H Moritz ("Sweet Home Alabama" & "I Am Legend") came onto the project under his company’s banner, Original Film. Moritz who produced all five films in the juggernaut actioner series, "The Fast and the Furious", is no stranger to comedy and admired the simple, accessible premise that the script offered. "Jon and Scott wrote one of the most successful comedies of all time." And Dobkin's participation? "When you bring together his sensibilities as a director with their instincts in this script, it was impossible to turn it down." The filmmakers first task was to find the right actors to play the two leads. Finding the right actors who could portray both Mitch and Dave in the pre-switch and post-switch periods would be daunting. Because the two leads would have to play each other’s parts for approximately 50 percent of the time, the job would require leading men who were just as deft at broad physical comedy as they were with relatable and heartfelt moments. Enter longtime friends Ryan Reynolds and Jason Bateman, last seen together in the thriller/drama, "Smokin' Aces". A lover of anything that doesn’t involve responsibility, Mitch is an alpha male who values his nightly rotation of ladies almost as much as his daily bong hits. For Mitch, life is just one long party as he tries to get his acting career jumpstarted in his hometown of Atlanta. "The most important thing about Mitch was that the character needed to be completely unpredictable, irreverent, unedited," says Dobkin. "Mitch walks through life completely unaware and carefree of what the consequences of his actions and words have on anybody around him." The filmmakers cast Ryan Reynolds as Mitch because, as Dobkin ("Shanghai Knights") explained: "he is a younger looking guy. I don’t look at Ryan and instantly see a family man. He is winning and exudes a confidence like a single man whom the ladies would love." 2011 ShoWest Male Star of the Year Award winner Reynolds (who first read the screenplay during the production of "Green Lantern"), recalls his reaction at the time: "I remember reading the script in my hotel room when I was in New Orleans, and it was the first one in a long time that made me literally laugh out loud. It had an edge to it and was 'no holds barred' in terms of how the characters were portrayed. Usually in these types of films the characters are broad stereotypes, but in this film they’re actually nuanced guys." The polar opposite of Dave is Mitch, a high-strung family man who married his childhood sweetheart, Jamie, has three children (Cara, Peter & Sarah), a beautiful house and, is on the verge of being made a partner at one of Atlanta’s most prestigious law firms.
When it came to casting the role, the filmmakers didn’t have to search for long. They were fortunate that early on in the development process, 2005 Golden Globe winner Jason Bateman ("Arrested Development") expressed that he wanted the part. Dobkin knew he needed someone who had the talents of a comic, but who also had the chameleon abilities of a seasoned actor. He wanted to give Bateman the chance to cut loose and play a character in the second act that audiences aren’t used to seeing him portray. "I wanted Jason to turn into a raging, irreverent asshole as his character deals with his new family environment and obligations. The thought of seeing him do big visual set pieces was exciting. He gets to do and say all of these things that, as parents, you might think about but wouldn’t do or say." Bateman laughs while explaining: "Somehow the script found its way to me: clearly too early; because they needed to find a stud first. After they found Ryan, things fell into place. What I liked most about the script was how funny it was with all of the very hard MA15+ humor that was written in a way that wasn’t gratuitous. It’s not just arbitrary F-bombs. Jon and Scott wrote a screenplay that was very realistic in terms of how most people would react by having to live your best friend’s life for a period of time. It’s also an actor’s dream in comedy to play both sides of the characters: the straight man and the fool." "I’ve long been impressed by the ability of Ryan and Jason to steal most scenes they’re in," Moritz notes. "They both have this impeccable sense of timing and a presence that can provoke laughter when you least expect it. I knew if we could bring them together and get the best out of both of them, we’d have something special." Maintaining Dave’s family life is no small task, but Dave’s wife, Jamie, makes it look effortless. Dobkin and Moritz cast comedic performer Leslie Mann, mother of two (Maude & Iris) and wife of "Knocked Up" producer, writer and director, Judd Apatow, in the role of Jamie. From her breakout roles in "The 40 Year Old Virgin" and "Knocked Up", Mann has shown the ability to deliver edgy zingers just as easily as dissolving into very real tears. "Leslie was the first person I thought of when I read the script," Dobkin (TV'S "Friends with Benefits") recalls. "She’s funny and strong but can also be vulnerable. I thought her performance in "Funny People" was amazing, and it was one of my favorite performances of the year. She has the ability to play realistic conflict in an entertaining and whimsical way that lets you into her world. Jamie is the emotional core of the film, so we needed an actress who could anchor that. Most actors either lean to comedy or lean to drama, but she can do either effortlessly, which is so rare." Mann ("She's The One") revealed that Dave isn’t the only one who is frustrated in the marriage. "Jamie feels like Dave is emotionally checked out. In the beginning of the movie, they’re in a serious rough patch and trying to figure out how to handle their hectic life. Through this experience of the body switching, Dave learns more about Jamie and she learns more about him. Through that, they grow and become happier." While Dave only has eyes for Jamie, Mitch can’t take his eyes off of Dave’s sexy associate, Sabrina, played by Olivia Wilde (Ella Swenson in "Cowboys & Aliens"). What sparked Wilde's interest in taking the role? "The script was insanely funny, and it just kept surprising me because it is as smart as it is crude and outrageous. The story has a relatable message about balance and happiness and family, but it’s told in a hilarious way. I also appreciated that the women in the script were allowed to be funny as well. That doesn’t always happen."
What's It All About?
 Growing up, Mitch and Dave 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: a beautiful wife, 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 on the town, Mitch and Dave's worlds are turned upside down when they wake up in each other's bodies and proceed to freak the fuck out. Despite the freedom from their normal routines and habits, the guys will soon discover, that each other's lives are nowhere near as rosy as they once seemed. With time not on their side, can the guys find a way to get their old ones back.
The Verdict
"When it comes to "The Change-Up", the first thing that springs to mind is that wise old saying: 'be careful what you wish for.' Dave and Mitch quickly discover there is a downside, when their wish is granted in this very entertaining flick about a hard working Lawyer, who has lost sight of his most important asset (his family) and, a slacker, who dodges responsibility at every opportunity because he's never evolved from his teen cocoon stage to fully fledged adulthood. Initially there's terror as the guys discover their wish has been granted. The next stage is to somehow maintain a sense of normality while living their new lives. The upside is, it will lead them to discover, who they really are and what matters most to them. That still leaves the guys with one big problem: how the heck are they going to get back into their own bodies. "The Change-Up" is what Americans class as R Rated comedy so beware if you are easily offended because it is far, far, raunchier then "Horrible Bosses" and, there are plenty of 'F' Bombs. Despite that, "The Change-Up" works well, thanks to 'super' performances from Ryan Reynolds ("Van Wilder: Party Liaison") and Jason Bateman ("State of Play") and excellent support from Leslie Mann: who by the way (along with Eric Bana), saved Adam Sandlers arse when she appeared as Laura in 2009's "Funny People" and, another noteworthy performance from Olivia Wilde who recently appeared with Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford in "Cowboys & Aliens". Good to see 2007 Oscar winner Alan Arkin ("Little Miss Sunshine") back on the screen playing Mitch's estranged father. For trivia fans, this isn't the first time Bateman & Reynolds have appeared together. Both had roles in the excellent R18+ actioner "Smokin' Aces": Bateman as Rupert 'Rip' Reed and Ryan Reynolds as Richard Messner. Finally, if you thought "Horrible Bosses" was entertaining, wait till you see "The Change-Up". Over the top and outrageously funny, "The Change-Up" is remarkabley entertaining, but highly unlikely to get a nod at the Oscars. And let's hope the Gladstone Council doesn't pick "The Change-Up" for their monthly Seniors screening! "Horrible Bosses" caused a furore and a walkout: so I hate to think how they'll react if this one's screened for them. 4 1/2 STARS."
Who Is Playing Who?
Ryan Reynolds
Jason Bateman
Leslie Mann
Olivia Wilde
Alan Arkin
Mircea Monroe
Gregory Itzin
Ned Schmidtke
Lo Ming
Sydney Rouviere
Luke Bain
Lauren Bain
Dax Griffin
Andrea Moore
Matthew Cornwell
Craig Bierko
Taaffe O'Connell
Fred Stoller
Dimitrius Pulido
Faith Alhadeff
Jamie Renell
Kenny Alfonso
Joe Knezevich
TJ Hassan
Matthew Stanton
Suzanne Arkin
Jeanette Miller
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Mitch
Dave
Jamie
Sabrina
Mitch's Father
Tatiana
Flemming Steel
Ted Norton
Ken Kinkabe
Cara
Peter
Sarah
Blow-Dried Goon
Sophia
Parks Foreman
Valtan
Mona
Movie Set PA
Greased-Up Lorno Guy
Nicolette Peters
Lawyer
Businessman at Sonsie Café
Amalgamated Exec
Kinkabe Lawyer
PA
Pamela
Grandma Taylor
The Production Team
Directed by David Dobkin
Written Jon Lucas & Scott Moore
Produced by David Dobkin/Neal H Moritz
Executive Producers Joseph M. Caracciolo Jr/Jeff Kleeman/Ori Marmur/Jonathon Komack Martin
Original Music by John Debney
Director of Photography Eric Edwards
Film Editing by Lee Haxall & Greg Hayden
Casting by Lisa Beach & Sarah Katzman
Production Design by Barry Robison
Art Direction by Thomas Minton
Set Decoration by Debra Schutt
Costume Design by Betsy Heimann
Run Time 112 minutes
Rated MA15+ [AUST]
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