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THE CHANGE-UPMovie Reviews
Comedy about two friends who switch bodies and must avoid completely destroying each other's lives before they find a way to get their old selves back. Cast:Ryan Reynolds, Jason Bateman, Leslie Mann, Olivia WildeDirector:David DobkinRelease Date:August 5, 2011DVD Release:November 8, 2011From:UniversalRating:RLength:1 hr 45 min
The Change-Up played to fair reviews. • James Berardinelli wrote for Reel Views, "...little more than a sit-com that's been tarted up with scenes of projectile poop, odd sexual fetishes, and knife wielding babies.... not as funny as it should be." • And Tom Long wrote in the Detroit News, "...a decent silly movie nearly overwhelmed by its own filthy mouth and mind." More Reviews Below...
The Change-Up Positive Reviews (46 Reviews, reviews below)
Alynda Wheat, People: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...the fellas have a great chemistry, and Leslie Mann earns laughs and sympathy as Bateman's put-upon wife. But that also means tons of vile gross-out humor."(See all of Alynda Wheat's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 121 words, 08/04/11
Mary Pols, Time: MODERATE "...raucous and entertaining but unexciting.... tries so hard to be scandalous that it's a shame it doesn't do more to change up the formula."(See all of Mary Pols's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 766 words, 08/04/11
Christy Lemire, Associated Press: MODERATE(cg) "It's as if 'The Change-Up' is trying to say, 'Just kidding! We didn't mean to be so sappy and square. Well, maybe we did, just a little. Whatever you guys like best.' "(See all of Christy Lemire's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 651 words, 08/04/11
Claudia Puig, USA Today: MODERATE(cg) "...needed a few more script revisions... an uneven comedy whose best moments offer a glimpse of its potential.... frat-boy crass, frantic and formulaic."(See all of Claudia Puig's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 514 words, 08/05/11
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: WEAK(cg) "...obscene, foulmouthed, scatological, creepy and perverted. As a bonus, it has the shabbiest low-rent main titles I've seen this side of YouTube."(See all of Roger Ebert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 734 words, 08/05/11
Kat Murphy, MSN Movies: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...a half-smart, deliciously transgressive mess of a movie.... good, guilty fun while sometimes casting a cool eye on what it means to be a man these days."(See all of Kat Murphy's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 825 words, 08/03/11
James Berardinelli, Reel Views: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...little more than a sit-com that's been tarted up with scenes of projectile poop, odd sexual fetishes, and knife wielding babies.... not as funny as it should be."(See all of James Berardinelli's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 886 words, 08/03/11
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NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES/CHICAGO/TORONTO (12 Reviews)
Stephen Holden, New York Times: WEAK "The body-swapping premise isn't explored with any depth, unless you find meaningful Freudian subtext in the movie's relentless anal fixation."(See all of Stephen Holden's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 663 words, 08/05/11
Michael Phillips, Los Angeles Times/Chicago Tribune: MODERATE "...the cast does what it can. Bateman and Reynolds hot-foot every exchange so that there's moment-to-moment pace, at least, in this conceptually lazy film's favor."(See all of Michael Phillips's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 381 words, 08/05/11
Lou Lumenick, New York Post: MODERATE(cg) "...often just plain crass and contrived... a potty-mouthed update on those '80s body-swap comedies starring the overacting Jason Bateman and Ryan Reynolds..."(See all of Lou Lumenick's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 531 words, 08/05/11
Rafer Guzman, New York Newsday: MODERATE(cg) "...spoiled by overly gross humor.... Reynolds is as blandly affable as ever, though Bateman, who tends to be better than his movies, shows glimmers of sensitivity."(See all of Rafer Guzman's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 318 words, 08/05/11
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: WEAK(cg) "...obscene, foulmouthed, scatological, creepy and perverted. As a bonus, it has the shabbiest low-rent main titles I've seen this side of YouTube."(See all of Roger Ebert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 734 words, 08/05/11
Karina Longworth, Village Voice/LA Weekly: FAIR "...two straight men come to terms with their true selves while being forcibly confronted by their fear of anal function... these guys stop just short of actually Doing It."(See all of Karina Longworth's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 694 words, 08/03/11
Norman Wilner, Toronto Now: WEAK(cg) "Here's the thing about body-swapping comedies: they only really work when the stars are equally matched.... There are no real characters here, just exaggerated types."(See all of Norman Wilner's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 345 words, 08/05/11
Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: MODERATE(cg) "...each character 'learns' about himself and the other guy's life and is the better for it. The trouble is that it doesn't change-up enough of the formula to render this new."(See all of Roger Moore's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 676 words, 08/05/11
Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: MODERATE(cg) "...it's hard not to be disappointed... the film follows the basic conventions of the switched-identity genre, if more profanely, changing up not much at all."(See all of Bill Goodykoontz's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 544 words, 08/04/11
Stephen Whitty, New Jersey Star-Ledger: MODERATE(cg) "...some of this might be passable if the film were consistently funny. But, like a drunk at a party, it's mostly just loud - and thinks that's enough."(See all of Stephen Whitty's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 544 words, 08/05/11
Amy Biancolli, San Francisco Chronicle: MODERATE(cg) "...pee-pee humor abounds.... also a lot of poo-poo humor. And ta-ta humor. Not to mention humor involving buttocks, masturbation, light porn..."(See all of Amy Biancolli's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 382 words, 08/05/11
Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "Bolstering the behavioral humor are some guilty-pleasure gags involving unattractive naked people and misbehaving babies."(See all of Joe Williams's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 355 words, 08/04/11
Steve Persall, St. Petersburg Times: POOR(cg) "...rife with groin-centric 'jokes,' sexism, ageism, racism and child abuse... a carpet bombing of bad taste, getting less funny with each passing moment..."(See all of Steve Persall's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 510 words, 08/04/11
Karina Longworth, Village Voice/LA Weekly: FAIR "...two straight men come to terms with their true selves while being forcibly confronted by their fear of anal function... these guys stop just short of actually Doing It."(See all of Karina Longworth's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 694 words, 08/03/11
Josh Tyler, Cinema Blend: EXCELLENT(cg) "...works brilliantly... David Dobkin's directing and the performances he gets from his incredibly gifted actors lift this story to a completely different level."(See all of Josh Tyler's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 806 words, 08/03/11
Peter Keough, Boston Phoenix: WEAK(cg) "Ryan Reynolds is funny until his character turns into a sad, misogynist troll.... the film indulges freely in its puerility and disgust with families and women."(See all of Peter Keough's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 160 words, 08/04/11
Michelle Orange, Movieline: WEAK(cg) "...the men rarely feel at risk and the women, revealed as the gory other lurking underneath all that verdant green grass, are ritually humiliated."(See all of Michelle Orange's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 820 words, 08/05/11
Nick Schager, Slant: MODERATE(cg) "...begins at the absolute bottom... a calculated strategy that nonetheless doesn't allow this middling R-rated effort to transcend its groan-worthy 'Freaky Friday' setup."(See all of Nick Schager's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 632 words, 08/03/11
Norman Wilner, Toronto Now: WEAK(cg) "Here's the thing about body-swapping comedies: they only really work when the stars are equally matched.... There are no real characters here, just exaggerated types."(See all of Norman Wilner's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 345 words, 08/05/11
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: POOR "...ghastly... it goes so far that you may quickly identify with Dave's baby son, who keeps banging his head against the side of his crib."(See all of Joe Morgenstern's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 304 words, 08/05/11
Stephen Holden, New York Times: WEAK "The body-swapping premise isn't explored with any depth, unless you find meaningful Freudian subtext in the movie's relentless anal fixation."(See all of Stephen Holden's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 663 words, 08/05/11
Michael Phillips, Los Angeles Times: MODERATE "...the cast does what it can. Bateman and Reynolds hot-foot every exchange so that there's moment-to-moment pace, at least, in this conceptually lazy film's favor."(See all of Michael Phillips's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 381 words, 08/05/11
Andrew O'Hehir, Salon: WEAK "...the whole point of a movie like this is to make you feel a little dirty, like hooker-at-a-convention dirty, and then feel redeemed... occasionally funny and a lot painful..."(See all of Andrew O'Hehir's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 968 words, 08/05/11
MOVIE INDUSTRY (6 Reviews)
Justin Chang, Daily Variety: WEAK "...the script takes R-rated gross-out humor to such forced extremes that its later bid for sentimental sweetness feels disingenuous and unearned."(See all of Justin Chang's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 772 words, 08/02/11
Todd McCarthy, Hollywood Reporter: POOR "...attempts to revive the dormant subgenre but it's a lame effort that grows increasingly frantic and foul-mouthed as the realization sets in that the gimmick isn't working."(See all of Todd McCarthy's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 742 words, 08/02/11
Michael Phillips, Los Angeles Times: MODERATE "...the cast does what it can. Bateman and Reynolds hot-foot every exchange so that there's moment-to-moment pace, at least, in this conceptually lazy film's favor."(See all of Michael Phillips's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 381 words, 08/05/11
Emanuel Levy, Cinema 24/7: FAIR(cg) "Among the filmmaker's cardinal sins is the total waste of Alan Arkin, one of the most reliable comedians for decades, in a thankless role as Mitch's estranged father."(See all of Emanuel Levy's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 644 words, 08/04/11
Stephen Holden, New York Times: WEAK "The body-swapping premise isn't explored with any depth, unless you find meaningful Freudian subtext in the movie's relentless anal fixation."(See all of Stephen Holden's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 663 words, 08/05/11
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: POOR "...ghastly... it goes so far that you may quickly identify with Dave's baby son, who keeps banging his head against the side of his crib."(See all of Joe Morgenstern's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 304 words, 08/05/11
18.5 Percentage Points Average Difference Between Reviews (Norm is 18.4pp; <18.4pp = More Consistent; >18.4pp = More Mixed)
The Change-Up's reviews are separated by an average 18.5 percentage points. The norm for this measure is 18.4 percentage points. Less than 18.4 indicates more consistent reviews; greater than 18.4 indicates more mixed reviews. In the chart below, each dot represents a review, with the dots at the top more positive than the dots at the bottom. From left to right, the dots represent reviews in big, bigger and biggest publications. Roll over each dot for more detail.
The Change-Up (46 reviews) Roll over dots for each review
Coverage:The Change-Up's reviews cover 93.9% of potential readers (average is 67.9%). Volume:The film's reviews total 24,841 words involume (average is 20,194 words). Length:The film's reviews average 540 words in length (the norm is 517 words).
The Change-Up Coverage, Volume & Length (46 Reviews, reviews below)
Reviews Broke 15.0 Hours Before Release (Norm is 1.2 Release)
The Change-Up's reviews on average broke 15.0 hours before opening. Norm for this measure is 1.2 hours before. The chart below shows reviews on opening day and the days before and after opening; the left side is earlier and the right side is later. The red bars extending above the horizontal mid-line represent more positive reviews, and the red bars extending below represent more negative reviews. The white space/red bar in the middle is The Change-Up's opening day. Click on any bar for a list of the reviews for that day.
The Change-Up (46 reviews, click on bars for reviews)
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