When Kassie (Jennifer Aniston) decides she wants to have a baby, she seeks out the perfect donor. This is upsetting to her best friend Wally (Jason Bateman) who thinks the fact that she is going to have a baby with a perfect stranger is not the right thing to do. They are best friends and he wonders what will happen if she gets pregnant and then finds the man of her dreams.
The Actual Switch
But Kassie is determined and when she finds her perfect donor, she throws a rather unusual party. At the “I’m Getting Pregnant” party Wally manages to get drunk and finds himself in the bathroom with the cup containing the “donation.” While in his drunken stupor he plays with the cup and accidentally drops it, spilling the contents. So, what else can he do but replace the contents?
Flash forward seven years and Kassie, who moved away from New York after she got pregnant, is returning to the city with her young son Sebastian. Having Kassie back in his life is cause for celebration for Wally.
Wally has no memory of the night he filled the cup, but little by little things start coming back to him. He confides in his boss/friend Leonard (Jeff Goldblum) steals every scene he’s in. He’s the bright spot of the film. Goldblum is witty, endearing, and downright adorable as the confident who insists Wally tell Kassie what he did, especially when Wally realizes Sebastian is his son.
A Maturing Journey
Young Sebastian is similar to Wally in that they have the same fears and neuroses. Sebastian is a morose little boy and definitely not athletic at all. The chosen sperm donor Roland (Patrick Wilson) is outgoing, athletic, and optimistic. This is the opposite of Wally and Sebastian.
The film is a journey for Wally as he matures from a neurotic, unable-to-commit, serious man to a mature, caring father. Bateman is enjoyable to watch.
Single Mothers
This is not the first time Jennifer Aniston has played a single mother. Of course, her fans will remember her with her daughter Emma in her sitcom Friends. She also played a single mother in the movie The Object of My Affection. Recently Aniston drew comments from the conservative talk show hosts who jumped on her case for talking about having a child without a father. This is becoming more and more common for women who know they want to have a child but do not have a man in their lives. Men are capable of creating babies throughout their lives, but women have a limited time in which to conceive.
Aniston explains, “When we meet Kassie she’s at a time in her life where she’s ready to have a child. She alerts her best friend that she’s going to sort of do this on her own because she really feels she wants a child more than she needs the man, which I found quite interesting. I don’t know if I would do it that way, but anyway, she does, and there are a lot of women out there who do, so I think it’s great to represent.”
Not a Traditional Comedy
This is not a typical comedy. It is mostly a journey through the lives of these characters, with some humorous things popping up from time to time. Bateman says, “It’s not pie-in-the-face, winky, slapstick kind of broad comedy. It’s whatever laughs would come from people being in a real situation, so we never lean into any of the stuff and it’s not some knee-slapping, silly comedy.” It is a character driven film, with Jeff Goldblum’s character providing the most smiles and chuckles throughout the film.
The movie is entertaining, however at 104 minutes it seems to drag a little and would be much better if it ran about 90 minutes. Hopefully this film will restart Goldblum’s movie career so audiences will see more of him in the future.
Quote Source: Press production notes.
