Destins confondus

"Switched at Birth" (or "Mistaken Identity," as it's known in some English-speaking countries outside the US) is a decent TV movie that takes a restrained look at a topic played for laughs in "Big Business" and for horror in "The Omen": happily married Melissa Gilbert and separated Rosanna Arquette give birth in the same hospital at the same time, but their newborn sons get the wrong ID tags, leading to trouble for both families in the months to come.

When this first aired on American TV, someone on the Internet suggested that having Rosanna play one of the two main roles was "throwing men a bone," but even if the charming Miss Arquette wasn't in it the movie would have been a perfectly acceptable way of killing an hour and a half (which is not to say she wasn't a key factor in my tuning in). Jerry Leichtling and Arlene Sarner's script tries to avoid melodrama, and if it doesn't always succeed it does keep away from the suds long enough to make it moving instead of nauseating. Though one wishes Arquette's ex-husband had a bit more dimension to him like Grace's similarly inclined ex on "Grace Under Fire," at least the tale isn't muckraking.

All in all, a higher quality than Douglas Barr experienced when he was in front of the camera on "The Fall Guy." Viewers looking to be disturbed, however, will have to settle for Melissa Gilbert's appearance - Rosanna Arquette is actually five years older than the Artist Formerly Known As Halfpint, but you'd never guess it from the evidence displayed here.

I have seen many films on the subject of switched babies, but this one stands alone because it left me nodding in tearful and smiling acceptance of the outcome. It is worth watching just for that, let alone the character interplay of the four parents, from the complicated rich girl and the put-it-right husband to the optimistic poor girl and the grasping opportunist. Melissa Gilbert usually packs a punch, and this is no exception, although in this film I found the story was so strong that it overshadowed her performance.

The film begins when Sarah and Linda meet in hospital when they are each in labour, and shows how they inadvertently leave with each other's babies. Every mother's nightmare. It isn't until Linda's boyfriend starts causing trouble that the mistake is uncovered, and there follows the rest of the story.

Melissa's character gives most of the small laughs along the way (and there are very few of these overall) with her strict by-the-book parenting. Understandable, really, given that Sarah had been trying for many years to have a child and had read every book on the subject in the intervening years. A contrast to Linda, who fell pregnant by accident and was dogged by her son's father throughout the film.

So as the title suggests we have a great baby switch in the hospital setting off a lovely chain of events.

It's reasonably easy to produce an average movie with the subject matter. Most of your audience will be thinking, what would I do? So they make their decisions, and the two families get along fine. This leaves you with the irritation of waiting for some totally irrational event to spiral it out of control into a sneering match.

Fortunately it is handled well with no clear cut, we like you... and now we don't. Their interaction fluctuates as you would expect in real life, as in they try to be pleasant and understanding, but ultimately do see things differently.

A Couple of good subplots occur to spice up the mix, making this quite a good film. The trade off with not letting the film drag on over 90 minutes means some of the secondary characters remain one dimensional and bland.

In summary the films starts a bit slow, good in the middle a little annoying at the start of the final act and rounds off... ah haa that would just hint at what the ending might entail. Pleasant.

The movie attempting to draw stark comparisons between Sarah and Linda, and making Sarah seem extreme, fell flat for me. Darryl is a complete loser. LInda, just like Sarah said, just wanted a name to put on the birth certificate. Linda said that in the beginning. In fact, the only reason she even found out something was wrong was bc she couldn't let Darryl be a jerk away from the baby. Turns out she was never thinking about Luke, just herself. Did we even see a scene of just the three of them bonding in the way that Sarah/Jim/Morgan bonded? No. Literally in the beginning, my hope was that she would meet an actual nice guy, gain some self-worth, find her own place/start her own salon, etc, and Luke may have a stepdad who wanted him. She was dependent on EVERYONE in her orbit in the film and ironically, her independence came very clearly with the settlement from the hospital.

Characters like Linda irk me. Like her lack of "privilege" is supposed to make us instantly feel for her, but she is so irresponsible. But wait, she does have privilege, bc her parents and her sister filled the gap and made every way for her to do nothing but raise Luke. Gave her a home, food, daycare, and a job. Gave her stability. I loved that her dad loved little Luke so much after being utterly disappointed in his daughter. Like every scene with Darryl, you can tell she's just lonely. The whole court battle began bc Darryl decided Luke was "defective" and they wanted a "healthy" Morgan back. The way she lets him steamroll her makes me sick. He's a liar, manipulator and she just takes it in stride...because she's lonely.

This movie in some ways is the best case scenario for this kind of movie. Very saccharine, not too deep, and thankfully no one dies (like a Lifetime version of this). And who knows, switching the boys at 1 year old may have been tough, but at the same time, Sarah and Jim dealing with these two forever would be a nightmare. For me, it's not even that the quality of life is technically better and more stable for Morgan. It's that Linda is so irresponsible that I'd hate to see Luke as an older kid dealing with this dysfunction, with a father who doesn't even know his pediatrician, yet has so much to say about a kid that isn't his. It's not hard to imagine a drunk Darryl pitting the boys against each other. He had ZERO good intentions or qualities. And it's not to say Jim and Sarah are perfect. They are NOT, but it's manipulation to say their structure, order, and stability makes them bad people or deserving of losing their child.

I also hate in movies like this how the "less fortunate" one never gets told off the way she/he should be. She's so passive and I'm just like why? At what point did she decide she wanted both boys? One of who isn't even related to her? That part makes zero sense. Why would a judge give a kid not related to a pair of strangers? Linda should have focused on getting the hospital to make things right instead of letting her loneliness cause undue stress and disruption to two very young kids. Utterly stupid and I honestly don't feel sorry for her. She brought drama to her parents and her sister's lives. When he's around, she goes through scenes of not saying anything or having this pained look on her face. It's annoying as crap to be honest.

I guess it's your POV who the bigger star is in this, Gilbert or Arquette. For me, it's Gilbert being a fan of LHOtP and to me, RA is not really the face of the Arquettes. But we see less of Linda with Luke than we do Sarah with Morgan. What is this movie's point? Honestly, this is so old it doesn't matter. I'm ultimately Team Sarah bc at least she's consistent and stands up for herself. Honestly wouldn't trust Linda as far as I could throw her and as much of a hassle it would be, I would absolutely get things in writing.