Day 238: "The only style of dancing that Uncle Mitch likes involves a big shiny pole and a broken woman with daddy issues."

As my wife so succinctly put it, "Oh great...another stupid 'switched bodies" movie.  Really?"  There are precious few times when my gut instinct is wrong, and this was one of them. The Change-Up is successful on a couple of levels: it was written by the guys who wrote The Hangover, one of my all-time favorite comedies, and had a genuinely funny, talented cast.  Two childhood buddies, one a workaholic lawyer with a great family and the other a misogynistic, narcissist who is stuck in high school.  One night while out drinking, they stop to relieve themselves in a fountain, stumble home, and wake up the next morning living each others' lives.  Mayhem follows, with each learning the obligatory life lessons regarding happiness in their own lives.  Along the way, though, there is a plethora of fart jokes, nudity, pubic hair styling and highly uncomfortable situations regarding employment.  I had a lot of fun watching The Change-Up, and that's something I haven't honestly had in a while: an unexpected good time watching a movie.

Jason Bateman and Ryan Reynolds are the principle characters: Dave Lockwood and Mitch Planko, respectively.  Reynolds already holds a top ten spot in my favorite comedic actors (he reminds me of a young Chevy Chase with his range of facial expressions, deadpan delivery, and impeccable comedic timig), but Jason Bateman has really come into his own as well.  Since seeing him in the TV show Arrested Development, I've warmed up to him in a big way.  Leslie Mann plays Dave's long suffering wife Jamie.  Between Dave's inattentiveness and Mitch's constant passes, she's in hard place, and pulls the performance off without a hitch.  I laughed myself on the floor at her bedroom scene.  Olivia Wilde is Dave's legal assistant, and Mitch's romantic interest, and she drops another solid performance alongside the two.

The Change-Up is, at once, disgusting, sexist, touching (yes), and ultimately funny as hell.  Say what you will about the cliche of 'switched body' stories, this one works.  Absolutely worth the time, but not at all for the younger members of the family, I'm pretty happy with tonight's choice, and I'm hoping for a stroke of inspiration to pop it in again.  Assuming I have the time.  I might just have to make some, though.  8.25/10.

See you tomorrow, and GO WATCH A MOVIE!!