Director: McG
Genre: Comedy
Cast: Jennifer Garner, Ed Helms, Emma Myers, Brady Noon, Rita Moreno
Duration: 105 minutes
Now streaming on Netflix
Jess (Jennifer Garner) and Bill (Ed Helms) are a married couple with three children and little free time in Family Switch. They sense their children pulling away and feel increasingly disconnected as a family. On a holiday outing to a planetarium to witness a unique event involving aligned planets, the family’s arguments come to a head. An eccentric woman (Rita Moreno) appears to take their photo and suggests they must fix what’s broken. The next morning, they wake up in one another’s bodies. Mom is now daughter CC (Emma Myers) and vice versa, and dad and son Wyatt (Brady Noon) have swapped places. It couldn’t come at a worse time — Jess has a promotion-pending presentation at work, Wyatt has an interview for early admission to Yale, an important scout is coming to watch CC’s soccer match, and Bill’s band, Dad or Alive, has a live gig.
Body swap films are nothing new, so this one innovates by mixing up the whole family, creating some silly and emotional situations but not many belly laughs. Swapping the baby and the dog was a stroke of scripting genius in Family Switch. All of the actors are on point and manage to make the swaps seem somehow believable. Helms and Noon stand out here.
The swap is, naturally, where the most humorous situations arise, but also where the film’s shortcomings are most evident. Having this one body-switched day be the most crucial in each of their lives feels a little over the top. Likewise, making all the characters (except the sweetly bumbling dad) superstars at what they do makes them feel less realistic or potentially even less likeable. The film strings together a series of situations. Still, the film ends on a sweet note, and it could make an enjoyable family night choice.
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