Kassie is a smart, fun-loving single woman who, despite her neurotic best friend Wally’s objections, decides it’s time to have a baby – even if it means doing it herself… with a little help from a charming sperm donor. But, unbeknownst to her, Kassie’s plans go awry because of a last-minute switch that isn’t discovered until seven years later… when Wally gets acquainted with Kassie’s cute, though slightly neurotic, son.
23 Feb The Switch (2010)
Unseminal
Pity the poor studio executive.
The mainstay of the entire movie business is the romantic comedy. That is to say: the romance that does not challenge. Without this, the bottom falls out of the financial infrastructure because they are cheap and reliable. But more: the movie-going public has a narrative about what movies are and how they fit into their lives. Romance, the tolerable fantasy of romance is at the root of that narrative. Though executives are merely following market forces rather than think about this, but without romance, the bottom falls out of why we need these stories.
But at the same time that we demand the old, we want it to appear new. So what to do?
Well, certain parts of the formula get sliced and diced. We still have to have the male in the specific role as flummoxed courter. He has to succeed in some significant way, then be rejected – possibly because of a misunderstanding, and finally regain his love by a public pronouncement in front of an audience that we have become part of. That has to stay, even in an experiment like ‘Billy Pilgrim.‘
What‘s left is playing with circumstance. Here, we have the guy actually producing a child with his love without his recollection or her knowledge. His rival is the supposed father. It is a small twist overall. One decision was to make the characters tepid and shallow so as to emphasise the situation. The effect is to turn Jeff Goldblum‘s character into something rather interesting.
He is a background character, and at the same time our designated on screen audience. He is not a particularly intelligent actor, but he knows his role; among the characters, only he winks at the audience.
Posted in 2010
Ted’s Evaluation — 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.
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