The Switch

Rating: **

Romantic comedies need a premise – one that keeps two people who you know will end up together apart for at least 90 minutes or so. In The Switch,the premise is one “hijacking the pregnancy” of the other.

Let’s try explaining that: Somewhere in her 40s,and with him as a “best friend” for six years now,she decides she should become a mother before time passes her by. He hates the idea,and tells her so. He asks why she wouldn’t take his semen,and she says,he may be her friend,but he is neurotic,hypochondriac and self-absorbed. So,she decides to advertise for a donor and when she finds one,throws an “insemination party” where the donor and his wife celebrate the event with her friends. During the party,our guy,in a drunken stupor,and in an act that he won’t remember for the next seven years,drops a vial containing semen from the donor down the basin and,panicking,decides to fill it up with his own.

So when the woman of his dreams,whom he never dreams of,does get pregnant and holds that baby,it’s his child.

If that isn’t convenient enough,when the kid grows up,he behaves just like our guy – including obsessing about his health and moaning,literally,while eating,apart from going about the film droopy and serious.

So if the ending of this contrived romantic comedy is very much sealed,what could keep us rooted is how Bateman and Aniston trundle towards it. They aren’t bad but there’s nothing in the story or their acting to lift The Switch above the plot it’s mechanically proceeding in (based on a suitably Hollywoodised short story by Jeffrey Eugenides).

He and she could be a family,but can Bateman and Aniston be that couple? One is not sure. Of the two,Bateman has the meatier role – being the guy afraid to take chances who finally decides to take the plunge. Aniston,in contrast,is her usual self,nice,pleasant and well-dressed.

And that’s exactly what The Switch is — nice,pleasant,a little less well-dressed and,but for that insemination party with an Indian theme – garlands,roti and all – and small balloons shaped like sperms,eminently forgettable.

shalini.langer@expressindia.com