Review of The Change-Up (2011) by Mike C — 10 Feb 2012

Pull those panties to the side and ask for another hundred. Wow. What an "offensive" movie. As lame as it may or may not be, something that offends people this much deserves at least some respect. I mean, those are not no-name actors in there. How did they agree to this? And what was the ideal market for this movie? Oh wait! Making it look cute in the trailers will bring in the crowds regardless if they end up walking out in disgust!

It was way funnier than I expected, largely because of the offensive stuff. There was definitely dumb and over-the-top junk. That offends me more than the dirty stuff. It seems like most of the comedies were quite profane...Bridesmaids probably the least bit, but Bad Teacher, Horrible Bosses, and 30 Minutes or Less were all quite dirty...and I thought pretty damn funny.

So the market is funny on this one. On the one hand, you have all this adolescent humor (but I always maintain telling jokes is not easy so even dirty jokes have to be well placed), but it's an R rated movie. Then the movie tries for these moments of poignancy, but that's not the crowd laughing at the dirty jokes.

So I close by saying Olivia Wilde is just tough to beat. Ebert thrashed this movie as badly as I've ever seen a movie thrashed, and he points out that the breastsisis exposure was not one of intimacy but exploitation, and that's what offended him. If those really were Wilde's tits, and they were obviously Leslie Mann's...that does kinda make me sad. I always like the woman who doesn't bare all, especially for a dirty comedy. Then again, why should the female chest offend when the male chest does not? This is an American thing where sexuality is offensive but violence is not. Beyond the boobs, Bateman remains a great comic actor. He kinda plays two roles in this and both are good on the comic front. But don't see if you're easily offended.