Atlanta is in for an onslaught of laughs as The Change-Up develops. Fresh from helming the riotous Bridesmaids it looks like Universal Pictures is on a definite hot streak when it comes to churning out riotous comedies. Taking a page out of his Wedding Crashers handbook, gifted director David Dobkin zeroes in on the weird friendship between two grown men.
Successful Dave Lockwood is your typical up and coming lawyer with a good practice, a nice stay at home wife, and three adorable children made up of a girl and two bouncing babies. Likeable Jason Bateman (Horrible Bosses) adds to his illustrious comical roles as this hapless workaholic who thinks life has passed him by. Little did he forget the exploits his zany friend Mitch Planko often gets him into.
Humour Comes Easily for Ryan Reynolds as a Loafer who Becomes a Lawyer with Comical Results
Vancouver-born Ryan Reynolds (Green Lantern) continues his winning ways as an out-to-lunch, do-nothing, stay-at-home jerk who doesn’t take himself (or anyone else for that matter) seriously and is as obnoxious as they come. Somehow you can’t believe the lawyer would befriend the loafer but there you are.
Away we go as one night, through some unusual magic, the two men have an out of body experience. Change of identity is nothing new in Hollywood and it’s been done before. Only with two consummate comics like Reynolds and Bateman you do buy into the hilarity of the many predicaments that befall both men. Each person must take over the other’s life and integrate fully into their bodies and minds, something neither is good at. So you end up with a loafer pretending to be a top lawyer and a professional assuming the body of a wacky loser. The results are hilarious.
Sexy Legal Aid Comes Easily for Olivia Wilde as a Woman in Demand
What makes The Change-Up even more comical are the back–up performers, especially the women in this piece. Sure to stop many hearts in their tracks is Olivia Wilde (Cowboys & Aliens) who commands your attention as a sexy legal assistant who smolders in Lockwood’s office and Leslie Mann (Knocked Up) who further spices things up as his good-intentioned wife.
Zany situations abound in The Change-Up. Some scenes involving the babies are priceless – though I’m sure some stuffed shirts would regard certain opening moments as being tasteless. And there’s even a moral tone that surfaces towards the films end that helps to redeem some of the wackiness that unfolds on screen. Big laughs will surely be heard out loud from all who attend The Change-Up, winner of this year’s The Hangover award for really being a fun time at the movies
Robert Waldman - Hi. I'm a film critic from Vancouver, British Columbia Canada, considered to be the number one city in the world and third largest film ...
