The producers behind “The Switch” should send Bill O’Reilly a really nice muffin basket or something. Because if the Fox News Channel pundit hadn’t lobbed a verbal grenade at the movie’s headliner Jennifer Aniston recently, there would be little reason to give a hoot about today’s so-so comedy of modern family dynamics.
In interviews, Aniston validated her character’s intentional choice in favor of single motherhood. The conservative commentator objected to that position. A media mini-feud, more stimulating than this contrived narrative, ensued.
But O’Reilly couldn’t have seen the film. If he had, he probably would endorse its ultimate message, which celebrates the traditional importance of the father for children. “The Switch” is actually told from the point of view of a would-be father, played by Jason Bateman. Though the convoluted plot sets in motion when an unmarried woman becomes artificially inseminated, the proceedings eventually center on the male character’s relationship with his young son: They are both transformed and fulfilled through their love for each other.
The directing team of Josh Gordon and Will Speck, behind 2007’s Will Ferrell ice skating farce “Blades of Glory,” find some less broad humor in a screenplay by Allan Loeb, based on the short story “The Baster” by author Jeffrey Eugenides (“The Virgin Suicides”).
Successful Manhattan television producer Kassie (Aniston, playing a thin variation on herself yet again) and neurotic equities analyst Wally (Bateman) are former lovers who became best buddies. Still harboring romantic feelings for her, Wally objects when Kassie picks out buff blond sperm donor Roland (Patrick Wilson) and knocks herself up in the far-from-old-fashioned way. On the eve of the event, a very drunk Wally switches Roland’s sperm with his own then promptly forgets that he did it. (What? No way.)
There’s an abrupt transition to seven years later. None of the adults look like they’ve aged a single day or changed any of their grooming. Kassie is now drawn to Roland, who she thinks is her boy’s dad. But it soon becomes clear that the suspiciously offbeat little Sebastian (Thomas Robinson) belongs to Wally, not just biologically, but in every way.
An endearing Bateman shares more chemistry with his pint-sized co-star than he does with his female love interest. The adorably precocious Robinson, playing the 6-year-old, runs away with “The Switch.” But even he is upstaged by the culture war of words between publicity seekers O’Reilly and Aniston.
