The F***ing Change-Up, Bitches!

The Change-Up is set in my Atlanta! Like for real, recognizably, and spoken aloud set in Atlanta. It’s not pretending to be LA, not wishing it were New York, it’s all Atlanta, all the time. I love it! If you’ve spent any time at all in the ATL, you’ll recognize the Georgia Aquarium, Phipps Plaza, Joe’s on Juniper, Piedmont Park and that gorgeous skyline. And one more thing you’re gonna recognize? The story line. It’s Freaky Friday with Jason Bateman as Barbara Harris and Ryan Reynolds as Jodie Foster. OK, so maybe I’m dating myself with that one. It’s Freaky Friday with Jason Bateman as Jamie Lee Curtis and Ryan Reynolds as Lindsay Lohan.

Jason Bateman’s Dave Lockwood is a successful lawyer married to a beautiful woman (Leslie Mann) with three kids. Ryan Reynolds’ Mitch Planko is a struggling thirty-something actor who still lives like he’s in the basement of the frat house. One night after watching the Braves game at a bar, they oh-so-wisely pee in a public fountain and wish they had one another’s lives. Hijinks and hilarity ensue. No really. Hilarity does in fact, ensue. The Change-Up is every bit as funny as I had hoped it would be, and maybe a little bit more.

I have to stick with the “maybe” on that one, because the shock-value laugh doesn’t count and for me, there were a lot of those. I ain’t usually one to sit around f***ing talkin’ sh*t. In fact, when a sh*t or even a d*mn comes flying out of my f***ing mouth, I feel guilty about it for hours. This movie has more f-bombs per minute than I’ve ever heard in my life. And I grew up on military bases.

I have to admit that I’m fairly conservative. I’m not Phyllis Schlafly conservative but I definitely fall closer to a Michelle Obama as opposed to, say, a Rihanna. I’m far more likely to clutch the pearls than most women my age and I was grasping at my neck a lot during this movie. They must’ve had some kind of expletive quota they were trying to meet. And they definitely pushed the line with the sex stuff.

One scene in particular that unnecessarily crosses the line shows Dave (in Mitch’s body) having to perform as an actor in a “light” porn movie with an overly-endowed grandmotherly chick and an oiled-up Russian wrestler. But here’s the thing. That scene and others like it were so absurd, I know I would’ve been dying laughing if I hadn’t been so scandalized. There were moments when I was sitting there with my chin on my chest and my eyes bulged out in total disgust thinking, “wow, that’s really funny.”

Both of the lead actors are hilarious—not to mention easy on the eyes—and pretty much every character in the film is totally likable. Sydney Rouviere, the little girl who plays Dave’s oldest daughter Kara is absolutely adorable, if not a natural actor. Leslie Mann holds her own opposite the guys and Olivia Wilde’s character Sabrina might be one of the most fleshed-out female supporting characters we’ve seen in a while.

So if you don’t mind knowing exactly where the story is going and you’re less prone to pearl-clutching than I am, you should definitely take in this flick. You’ll at least have a few laugh-out-loud moments. If you have the sensibilities of a southern belle, you should probably just wait for The Help to come to a theater near you.