Review of The Change-Up (2011) by Mickey S — 15 Oct 2013

The Change Up has no explanation to its premise and it's senseless in that manner, but that allows the focus to be put more into the jokes and characters than into the story, and that's what to expect and hope for. And to a certain extent, that's what you receive.

The script in The Change-Up is strongly inconsistent, featuring moments of hilarity and other moments of overly unfunny cliche, and they stick out, because when the jokes are funny they provide laughs, but when they're cliche they are too obvious. Luckily, there is enough humour to overshadow the cliche crap of The Change Up over its entirety.

The directional job just seems like a routine effort for David Dobkin , and it really leaves the natural humour of the actors to hold the laughs.

Luckily, that's a safe bet.

Jason Bateman and Ryan Reynolds make a grand duo in The Change Up, dishing out some of their finest work.

Stepping out of his role as a real neurotic person for once, Jason Bateman transitions between being a very ego driven workaholic and father into being a carefree spirit about 20 years younger than he actually is, which really makes it seem like a fun experience for him. He puts in all the energy and charisma that Ryan Reynolds embodies for his persona in The Change Up and various other features which shine a light on his career and display is diversity for a wide set of skills.

Ryan Reynolds does the same by using a certain neuroticism which makes him seem like a very tight and awkward character who develops into a more free spirit as the story develops, making it like a rebirth for his career as he shows off how one becomes a figure like him in the first place.

These two stars share an great chemistry as they seem to be naturally friends in The Change Up and make every effort for it to be true.

Leslie Mann also shows off her natural comedic talents in The Change Up and even use of sex appeal as she takes her shirt of for the first time off to add to the raunchy humour of the film, and really it just makes her all the more funny in the end.

Olivia Wilde is also good in her part and similarly has a sense of natural sex appeal and humour.

In the end The Change Up is decent for its cast but inconsistent everywhere else.