The film “The Switch” is packaged shiny and bright with bold fonts and fancy graphics. Its selling points are wholesome, beloved actors and a sparkly fresh idea involving romance and artificial insemination (that’s right, artificial insemination). However, inside this peppy package is the same tired product that Hollywood has been selling us for years — two people who are just friends, but who secretly love each other, must overcome several obstacles to obtain the happiness they have been longing for.
“The Switch” stars Jennifer Aniston (Kassie) and Jason Bateman (Wally) — playing best friends in New York City who dated, but became friends after their relationship failed. Now Kassie, who is single and approaching 40, decides that she wants to get pregnant through artificial insemination. She finds a qualified donor, Roland (Patrick Wilson), and has an insemination party (that’s right, insemination party), which includes a little sperm confetti and a party playlist that features “Papa Don’t Preach.”
At the party, Wally, who cannot hold his liquor, gets terribly drunk and finds himself peeing in the same bathroom where Roland’s “product” is stored. Wally spills the sample and, in his drunken state, replaces it with his own, and with this the plot is born.
Years later, Sebastian, Kassie’s son, is introduced to Uncle Wally, and after spending some time together, Wally begins to spot some unique similarities — and why shouldn’t he? This is, literally, his seed. Now Wally must find a way to break all this to Kassie without losing her friendship, her love, and his artificially conceived son.
Although this movie is advertised as a romantic comedy, it fails to really deliver the laughs. Jeff Goldblum is often entertaining as Leonard, Wally’s best friend. But Bateman, who is usually hilarious, was rather subdued and withdrawn from any funny moments. The writers chose to focus, instead, on Wally’s inability to maintain any romantic relationships.
College students may be turned off by the revelation that the comedy is sparse and that the subject matter is less aimed at 18 year olds and more at 30 year olds, but the fi lm has a valuable messsage. At the heart of it, when you push aside the romantic stuff, is the importance that a father plays in a son’s life. The connection that Sebastian and Wally make creates more knots in stomachs than any sappy “get the girl” dialogue between Wally and Kassie.
Although not what I expected, I walked away from the theater pleasantly surprised. Sure, Jennifer Aniston does what she always does (look pretty without doing any real acting), and there are more clichés in this movie than raisins in a box of Raisin Bran cereal, but Bateman brought some real depth and emotion to the screen. He left me with a memorable character who discovered that to be a man it takes more than just sperm in a cup. Basically, “The Switch” is worth a couch-potato movie night, but not a weekend trip to the theater.
