Jason Bateman is more than a child actor who didn’t succumb to a life of tabloid headlines and VH1 redemption.
He’s a terrific comic actor, one whose talents are too often relegated to supporting parts.
In “The Switch,” Bateman gets the best role of his still young film career. He plays the best bud of a single gal (Jennifer Aniston) who decides to have a baby via a sperm donor.
The title tells the rest of the story, a convoluted one that can’t derail Bateman’s fine work.
Aniston plays Kassie, a single gal who decides to have a baby on her own after failing to find a partner. So she lines up a handsome sperm donor (an under-used Patrick Wilson) but the titular “switch” leaves her with the genetic material from Kassie’s best pal Wally (Bateman).
Flash forward seven years later, and Kassie’s adorable son looks and acts just like Wally, something that takes Wally by surprise in the film’s flimsiest plot device. How will the “switch” affect Wally and Kassie’s relationship, and could it push the duo out of the friendship zone into something … more?
“The Switch” isn’t as manic as your standard rom-com, so let’s all breathe a collective sigh of relief. The gimmick at its core is silly beyond measure, though, requiring our leads to ground the preposterous material.
They’re both up to the task, even if Aniston’s character is woefully underwritten.
Memo to screenwriters: It isn’t enough to say a character is female, single and wants a baby. That’s a thumbnail sketch, nothing more.
The romantic chemistry between the actors doesn’t crackle. It wouldn’t even shock you if you rubbed it on shag carpeting.
What we’re left with are the comic performances which are solid throughout. That’s especially true whenever Jeff Goldblum appears as Wally’s boss and sounding board. Their scenes together are flat out terrific – so how about re-teaming them in a road picture ASAP?
The film’s second half feels manipulative, the film’s natural flow giving way to plot devices meant to steer the main characters on a romantic collision course.
“The Switch” isn’t the disaster its release date portends – late August is hardly Ground Zero for comedy gold. But it’s a fine platform to show just what Bateman can do in the rom-com format.
(Photo: Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman play best friends who get mixed up with a sperm donor in “The Switch.” 2010 Baster Productions)
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I think Jennifer Aniston gets short shifted. She is capable of more than she seems to be offered. When she has good parts with funny dialogue, she does really well. I want to see her do more than those silly romcoms that she’s gotten too long in the tooth to believably play. I love Bateman, I thought he was great in Extract. Not sure why that movie got so little attention.