The Switch *** (2010, Jennifer Aniston, Jason Bateman, Patrick Wilson, Jeff Goldblum, Juliette Lewis) – Classic Movie Review 5531

Jennifer Aniston may be starring – and she is her usual delightfully capable, appealing self. But it is Jason Bateman, in a warm, funny, natural and subtle performance who is the making of directors Josh Gordon and Will Speck’s very sweet if occasionally slightly uneasy 2010 romantic drama.

Unfortunately, Bateman is playing a character called Wally, a neurotic pessimist secretly in love with best friend Kassie (Aniston). She is unattached at nearly 40, and decides to go the artificial insemination route to become pregnant. Seven years later, Jen reunites with Jason, who has another secret: he replaced the sperm of her preferred donor, stuffy Roland (Patrick Wilson) with his own – and now her kid Sebastian (Thomas Robinson and his real-life brother Bryce Robinson) is the spitting image of Wally!

It is a huge tribute to the actors that they keep it seeming cute and real at the same time. That is great trick to pull off in this kind of movie, which happily turns out to he not too escapist and not too girly. The stuff with Bateman and the kid shows real class. It is beautifully written and played.

Only all the second-hand material with Wilson and with Jeff Goldblum as Wally’s buddy seems stale and forced. And there is quite a lot of it. Aniston gives very loyal back-up to Bateman. It is his show, he deserves it, and deserves her as his co-star.

Aniston was said to have disapproved of the change in the film’s title to The Switch from Baster, the title of the original short story by Jeffrey Eugenides, adapted by Allan Loeb as the screenplay.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5531

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