The Change-Up

Dave (Jason Bateman) is a workaholic attorney, married with three kids. Mitch (Ryan Reynolds), on the other hand, is a pot-smoking bachelor with questionable options for employment. They’ve been friends since childhood. After a night out drinking together, always responsible Dave wakes up in Mitch’s apartment, and Mitch wakes up next to Dave’s wife. While urinating in a fountain in the park the night before, the guys each claimed to envy the other’s life and somehow wake up having switched bodies. What follows is a hilarious turn of events, as they go from denial to acceptance of their situations. Mitch takes over Dave’s job and home life, and Dave ends up at Mitch’s new job as a soft porn actor. Dave’s wife, Jamie (Leslie Mann), is beside herself at her husband’s newfound irresponsibility with the household and kids, and it appears that Mitch is about to ruin everything Dave’s been working toward in his career while he’s playing lawyer. Mitch (as Dave) sets Dave (as Mitch) up on a date with the hot girl in Dave’s office, Sabrina (played by Olivia Wilde). And while Dave is struggling with fidelity, Mitch is beginning to understand what a huge responsibility it is to take care of a family. What ensues are numerous laugh-out loud moments while the two of them handle each other’s lives, then some more poignant moments where a real understanding of what they’ve left behind and what is really missing in their lives are realized. They come to learn not just about the life the other has, but about the depth of their friendship as well. While the guys originally thought they wanted things the other had (the freedom that Mitch’s life holds, and the family that Dave’s life brings), they soon begin to realize that walking in the other’s shoes isn’t quite the life they expected.