Love Switch

First rule of romcom (Hallmark style) shot in 45 days under 5 million dollars,, you need two likable lead actors who can act and I have to say, mission accomplished.

Melanie Stone (also producer) and Chris Reid (usually a stunt double) are both likable, beautiful, charming and look like they actually had fun doing this.

We also get the usual "Romcom" rotation of supporting cast and main actors from other movies of the genre.

Overall, the acting here is above the norm for this type of production and quite enjoyable to watch.

The soundtrack is appropriate with normal amount of volume and is also of good quality.

The cinematography and the editing is done by a team of pros that actually knew what they were doing.

As to the movie and story itself, it was enjoyable and caught myself laughing out loud a few time.

I finished the movie feeling happy and satisfied.

I gave this movie an 8 stars because it did what it set-up to do (in its genre) fantastically.

If every romcom (Hallmark style and budget) was done this well,, my life as a reviewer would be so much more fun.

The movie is in a league of its own, I don't even think Lifetime or Hallmark could have produced something this awful. The performers are all stiff as cardboard and don't have a good screenplay to work with. The music is overly festive, the neighborhood feels like a utopia, and Chris Reid's effeminate voice got old after two scenes.

People will compare this to Freaky Friday, which is a laugh-out-loud family comedy with tremendous performances. I suppose that there were a couple of laughs with Love Switch, but these characters are all mindless idiots and you're sort of laughing at these actors, not with them.

Set and filmed in Utah. Beautiful scenery. And a clean movie, no swearing, no sex, not a gun in sight.

The conceit of this story is that a married couple somehow switch bodies on the eve of his job-related trip. So he as to fill in for her, in her body, while she has to fill in for him, a computer expert, something she knows nothing about.

The first approximate one-third of the movie establishes their frantic lifestyle. They are on the verge of celebrating their 13th anniversary but we can see there is friction, mainly because each feels underappreciated. The daughter is 12, in junior high, and is having normal boy issues for that age. The son is maybe 8 and seems incapable of doing his own assignments without parental help.

Aside from the novelty and the awkward situations that arise, the main result of the body switch is to have each parent gain a better appreciation of the other's role, and things improve for both of them in the end.

The premise of the story is fantasy so we watch to be entertained. And my wife and I were entertained. At home, streaming on Prime. After our weekly steak and wine dinner, of course with chocolate cake for dessert!

This is a made for streaming movie, which translates as a cheap production. Okay, so there is no gratuitous sex, nudity or foul language, which in a weird way is refreshing.

Moving onto the story, it is a reworking of Freaky Friday, only not as good. Much of the script I would call "cliche" and lacks continuity and common sense. For a supposed comedy/romance this is very little of either. The acting is pretty amateur, all the main characters are stiff and not believable for a minute. As for the production values, the sound track is canned and cheezy and does not fit in at all. Camera work is pretty basic and there is nothing close to professional lighting. I was ready to turn it off after a few minutes.

This film failed on multiple fronts. Poor acting from some of the cast (the boy acted like a robot) but I don't fault them much because I'd say the direction and writing was the main culprit.

Did any of the writers of this film ever interact with real children their entire lives? I ask because the 2nd grader is depicted as the dumbest 8 year old in film history.

What 8 year old does not know what his school looks like? The name of his school (4-5 year olds learn this kind of stuff)? How to do literally any assignment without his mom?

The entire focus of the film was on the couple's "failing marriage" (which wasn't that bad as portrayed btw), but I'd say their much larger problem was their child with a learning disability.

"The therapist" has a painfully bad British accent that fades in and out throughout the film, was there a valid reason to make her British?

Also, weird choice that in order to pretend his character was a woman trapped in a man's body, the father character was obviously told to just act "like a gay guy". It was strangely offensive to watch.

I really don't understand how this film got greenlit, other than a budget of a few thousand dollars.