MOVIE REVIEW: The Change-Up

Body switching has mostly been a staple of Hollywood movies, from Freaky Friday, both the original and the 1997 remake starring Lindsay Lohan, Like Father, Like Son (1987) starring Dudley Moore and Kirk Cameron and Vice Versa with Judge Reinhold and Fred Savage. All of them are family films, good for all ages but those who saw those films, including me have aged and now comes The Change-Up starring Jason Bateman and Ryan Reynolds. It is the only R-rated body switching that I know of.
Bateman and Reynolds play best friends who both have lives at the opposite end of the spectrum.
Jason Bateman plays Dave Lockwood, a successful lawyer living the married life with his wife played by Leslie Mann and their three children: a daughter and twins. Ryan Reynolds is Mitch Planko, a struggling actor, who is single and lives the life of an eternal, carefree bachelor. The two had been best friends since childhood.
After a night out wherein they both wished that they had each other lives over a magical fountain, they exchanged bodies. It is a sight to see that both Bateman and Reynolds, both good comedic actors in my book, have an excellent chemistry together and just play the complete opposite of their characters instantly and hardly without any effort. Leslie Mann is always a good comedic actress and this movie also proved to me that she is a MILF. And Olivia Wilde is given ample time to show that she can be funny too.
The gags are so raunchy but it goes well with the story and the wonderful performances. I saw this film two times at separate advance screenings and both times made me laugh. Jason Bateman already has Horrible Bosses and now this, he is arguably the top comedic actor of the summer movie season 2011 and for Ryan Reynolds, this is his better summer film compared to Green Lantern.