“The Switch” Managed To Be A Little More Than You Were Expecting

“Did you just use my name as a verb?” –Wally Mars

Ceding control of movie choice yet again, I ended up faced with a viewing of “The Switch.” I need a better system.

Anyway, as far as “The Switch” goes, Jason Bateman (as the awesomely named Wally Mars) was initially difficult to accept as a lead guy, since he’s usually cast as the sidekick. And in watching the film, it wasn’t always easy to decide whether the intent is to view him as pitiful or hilarious. Personally, I find Bateman hysterical, but I could see where his brand of humor could be lost on certain crowds. At least here, he’s playing the complete opposite role of the one he had in “Juno.”

From a casting standpoint, I was also fascinated to see Jeff Goldblum for the first time in like 20 years, naturally leading me to wonder just where they dug him up from. The kid, Sebastian (Thomas Robinson), steals pretty much every scene he’s in, while it was hard to ignore the gigantic forehead played by Patrick Wilson as Jennifer Aniston’s slightly douche-ish fiance. And unfortunately, this film also served notice of how old Aniston is getting, which is more than a little depressing.

Among the plot holes was a seven-year period where Bateman’s character moved away and moved back, which was completely glossed over. And I certainly could have done without the lingering scenes of a dude playing with another dude’s sperm.

But beyond that, “The Switch” had a good soundtrack and an underrated emotional streak. Taking into account the predictability and how easily some issues were resolved, I actually found this movie kind of cute, and I really (really) don’t use that word very often in describing a film. And at the very least, it was better than expected after losing the coin flip to pick the movie to watch.