Family Switch

3 out of 5 stars.

Family Switch is a fair comedy film that has a family theme message for the holidays and humor that is cheesy and fun. Its Freaky Friday with a family concept. A story about a family thats distant and growing apart. And few days before christmas on a day of planetary alignment. They all wished to be the other. Which they all switch bodies. While trying to live the others life and seeing what there struggle is.

It is a cute and fun family film for the holidays. The cast did okay and had fun with there roles. The humor can be a bit cheesy with iffy dialogue as well. It is a film that entertains.

Jess (Jennifer Garner) and Bill Walker (Ed Helms) are a happily-married suburban couple, but they fear disconnecting from their kids. Daughter CC (Emma Myers) is the star football player. Son Wyatt (Brady Noon) is a science nerd. They with baby brother and dog go to the Griffith Park Planetarium. With a planetary alignment, a telescope, and psychic Angelica (Rita Moreno), the family get switched.

This is old hat for Jennifer Garner and the movie refers to her movie as well as others. Ed Helms is playing the music nerd teacher although the back story is leading towards former rock star. That conflict does cause some problems. This is mostly fine but very derivative. Garner can easily switch from stuffy to childish. Ed Helms is a little ill-fitting for the role. For example, Brady Noon is trying to play the dad like a leather jacket rocker in one scene and it doesn't fit his other scenes. The dog baby switch would be funnier if the CGI isn't so Son of the Mask. Of course, there is a dance sequence and I like the premise behind it. As for the band tryout, I don't understand why Wyatt with dad inside doesn't just play the gig. He can claim that dad is injured and the son had been learning from the dad. I do question director McG's style. His brand of humor is very broad and very low hanging fruit. This has a few fine comedic moments but most others are lesser family fun.

Is this a masterpiece ? No.

Does it deserve the bad critics? No.

Let's take the movie for what it is: a light family movie you can totally enjoy during the period of Christmas.

I watched the movie with my kids yesterday (10 and 8 years) and my wife.

We all enjoyed. The jokes are not always crazy good but good enough to make us laugh and have a good time.

The movie is obviously predictable but still, it did not bother me/us that much.

I would still recommend to people with a young family. It's light, entertaining and as mentioned funny.

Even for us as parents, there are some interesting messages (again, it's not deep but still, some nice reminders here and there that I enjoyed).

Give it a shot unless light family comedies aren't your thing.

This is a cute, feel-good movie that made me laugh out loud a few times and kept me entertained the rest of the time.

This falls squarely in the genre of "Disney-esque" movies that take place during the holidays, with lots of festive bells jingling and ding-donging throughout the score.

I wasn't expecting to raise my IQ by watching it, and of course I didn't. Nor was I expecting a transcendent work of cinematic art, and it wasn't.

But the acting was solid from all characters, the premise (while ridiculous, as all of these "body-swapping" stories are, unapologetically!) remained pretty steady throughout, and although it was predictable and formulaic, it wasn't over-the-top corny. (Sure, it was a little corny, but not TOO bad.)

There's even a cute dance sequence in the middle of the movie that turned suddenly sentimental and made me tear up for no discernable reason except that I am a pathetic sap, lol.

I enjoyed it and would recommend it if, like me, you enjoy sometimes just turning your brain off for a bit during the holidays, and watching something that's basically the cinematic equivalent of a warm snowman-shaped sugar cookie.

Seems like this movie has a lot of bad reviews on here, but I completely disagree. I went in with little expectations, because unfortunately Netflix movies are hit and miss. But I liked it. Yes, the switching of bodies has been done a lot, but I thought the writers and actors did a great job of differentiating it from other storylines. It's wholesome and family friendly. There are only so many times you can watch the same family holiday movies. The casting was spot on and the actors seemed like they were having fun. It's definitely one I could watch again.

I appreciated that the sister was the jock and brother the nerdy smart guy. It's usually the other way around.