Lest you think Ryan Reynolds and Olivia Wilde are going to spend their summer hanging out with aliens (in Green Lantern and Cowboys and Aliens, respectively), here comes the red band trailer for The Change-Up to help remind you of their more earthly pursuits. Never mind that the film is a body-swap comedy co-starring Jason Bateman.
That's right: The Change-Up is basically an R-rated, non-mother-daughter take on Freaky Friday, where -- after a night of boozing and joking -- best friends Mitch and Dave (Reynolds and Bateman) relieve themselves in a fountain and wind up switching bodies. That means single male whore Mitch becomes curmudgeonly family man Dave and Vice Versa vice versa.
Directed by David Dobkin (Wedding Crashers) and written by Scott Moore and Jon Lucas (the initial script for The Hangover), The Change-Up feels perfectly bro'd out -- after all, the red-band trailer contains two poop jokes (one involving Leslie Mann, far away from the loving embrace of the Judd Apatow universe) and the aforementioned Ms. Wilde looking quite alluring as Dave's office crush. That the comedy also presents some sticky moral quandaries is worth nothing -- were Dave to consummate said crush while in Mitch's body, would that be cheating? -- but considering the entire thing ends with a taint joke, it probably won't be too existential.
Not that it needs to be. Say what you will about The Change-Up and its ridiculous premise and frat-y comedy, but one thing is undeniable: Bateman and Reynolds are very funny, very charming and very compatible. Those three things alone could be enough.
VERDICT: Not running out on opening weekend, but sold.
For now the trailer is restricted, so head over to Moviefone to watch. Check out the poster for The Change-Up below.
