Romantic comedies get a bit of a raw deal these days. Often they are seen in ads as the choice of movie that the guy will to lengths to avoid by using some sort of cool product or as the things women watch together while crying, shoving shovel loads of ‘Pish Food’ into their mouths while cursing men back in the hole that we crawled out of it. I assume this image also works for the very first ‘Loose Women’ funeral by the way. This image of romantic comedies is very unfair though, as they can be down right stunning and life affirming. One viewing of ‘The Apartment’ or ‘Jerry Maguire’ would have the power to turn anyone into a piano ballad writing softy.
The problem is, there are an awful lot of bad ones out there. For every ‘High Fidelity’ there are a hundred ‘All About Steve’, for every ‘Starter For Ten’ there are a thousand movies where Matthew McConaughey swans around topless for 90 minutes getting more action than an 17 year old boy, on the Wes’s Leaving Cert result night, who has just found out he can get away with using his older brother’s ID for purchasing Barcardi Breezers. Though this isn’t the fault of the genre, its because they are simply bad films. The only reason so many of them happen to be under the genre of ‘Romantic Comedy’ is because of lazy film makers who feel they can make a quick buck by flogging a movie using a washed up Sit-Com actor struggling to pick between a ugly guy who can read and a dick who look good riding a motor bike.
Which on paper means this months ‘The Switch’ starring Jennifer Aniston should be another lazily written excuse to sell ice cream and therefore be avoided, however its actually a lot better than that.
While receiving top billing because of her A lister name, Aniston, although being full of Rachel Green like charm, is not the star of this film. That credit belongs to Bateman, who not only does the film follow throughout, he is very much the heart of this film, showing both the put upon charm that he had in spades in ‘Arrested Development’ but also marrying a tenderness and a some what selfish nature that makes his character believable. Of course, this being a movie about a kid, a lot of the movie hangs on if the child is likeable, and luckily he is.
Sebastian (played by Thomas Robinson..who was in an episode of ‘Heroes’ for you fact fans out there) is very much the outsider and is so completely uncool, he is rather hard not to find adorable. Being a rom com, there are a number of boxes to be ticked here, including the ‘best friends’ (Jeff Goldblum and Juliette Lewis) whose likability really depends on if you like the actors playing them ( love Goldblum, dislike Lewis, but sure that’s just me) but also by bringing in the other guy. The other guy role is hugely important to any rom com, and a huge pet peeve of mine is when the other guy is so completely unlikeable, there is no way the girl would be with him in the first place. While brilliant in other ways, one of the only flaws of ‘Wedding Crashers’ was this. For the film to work, you do need to be routing against this guy but he should never be a pantomime villain. This years best rom com, ‘Cemetery Junction’, did this very well. So when ‘The Switch’ adds this to the mix, in the form of ‘The A Team’s Patrick Wilson, the original sperm donor and who Kassie still thinks is Sebastian’s real father, he is flawed and mourning a failed marriage, but you never do hate the guy.
So while it will never be a classic, ‘The Switch’ does some things very well (for example being drunk, which is also an easy thing to mess up on film) such as having believable characters who while flawed you can’t help but route for and an ending that will have you smiling. So do your self a favour and if the Romantic Comedy tag is the only reason why you would avoid this movie, or another one in the genre, go and see it. You never know you may just enjoy it. If you don’t however feel free to go see ‘The Expendables’ and reenact it in your back yard with local kids pet rabbits, you heartless thug.
The Switch has previews starting today (September 1st)
Starring:
Jennifer Aniston
Jason Bateman
Thomas Robinson
Directed by : Josh Gordon and Will Speck
Good review. I like Bateman. Although, I haven’t even seen The Expendables yet