Too much of everything

Simply A Masterpiece

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Ellen Barkin, Jimmy Smits, Perry King, JoBeth Williams and Lorraine Bracco star in Blake Edwards' 1991 comedy. King (Class of 1984) plays Steven Brooks, a philandering, ad exec who gets shot by 3 women. He's sent back to earth, but must live as a female, Amanda (Barkin) and find love in order to go to heaven. Smits (Running Scared) plays his best pal, Walter, Williams (Poltergeist) plays Margo, one of Steven's girlfriends/lovers and Bracco (Goodfellas) plays Sheila, a businesswoman. This is a pretty good comedy that sort of shares similarities with "Oh God, You Devil!" and "Heaven Can Wait," Barkin is great in it and she and Smits have good chemistry. I recommend this.

I can't imagine why this film has such a low rating. Many times I have watched the beautiful and hilariously funny Ellen Barkin pretend that high heels are new to her. Not to mention the great scene where he/she discovers that he/she has come back to life as a woman. The battle of the sexes is vividly portrayed in a very humorous way. Also amusing is the portrayal of advertising men as so low they would have to climb a few notches to reach the moral level of an ambulance chasing lawyer. Switch is not only a great comedy that stands the test of time but has a touching ending that adds another dimension to the story. Switch is one of my all time favorite films.

This film could of been so much more. Blake Edward's had the potential to produce an all out gender bender riot of a comedy, when in reality it was kind of funny, had some funny gender bender moment's, but then all of a sudden it became a over complicated sex comedy that was sending so many mixed message's that toward's the end of the film the pace changed dramatically and it was no longer funny, or touching it became surreal. It was across between 'Tear's of Enderment', and a made for TV movie on Hallmark. Now there is nothing wrong with those comparison's but when your watching a movie that is supposed to be a hilarious comedy about switching sex's then it's understandable to be disappointed. For instance the plot work's well on paper, but once it makes it's way to the big screen then the premise loses it's structure thank's to the director's habit of losing the essence of the film, in favour of pointless, unexpected twist's that don't go anywhere. Steve who the film is centred around, is a male chauvinistic pig, who has no respect for woman. He bed's then, then treat's them like any typical male stereotype would. Like dirt. So his three ex girlfriends have had enough of his behaviour so they shoot him dead. So when Steve tries to get into heaven he is told that he has to go back down to earth and get a woman to love him and if he succeed's he is allowed through the pearly gate's. However there is one catch he has to return back down to earth as woman! Sound's good so far?Yeh!No! When Steve arrives back on earth as Steve sister, instead of revenging his ex-girlfriend's for his death, and teaching them a lesson, or even getting involved in helping a poor helpless guy learn how to treat a woman, the plot ignores these typically explored avenue's of gender swapping comedy and the film just becomes a long waiting game.Steve is a typical male, so when he is a woman the obvious joke's are in the trapping's of being a female. Walking in high heel, putting make- up on, sorting your hair, dressing yourself appropriately, and learning to deal with being seen as a sex object to men. These jokes are played through out the film which wear's a bit thin. So in the middle of these repetitive jokes he meet's Lorranie Bracco character who is a lesbian. They get on, and embark on what is probably the most PG pointless lesbian scene ever. Nothing happen's, but what is worse is something could of happened. There was potential to get them together, to bring more laugh's into a already laugh less comedy, and it could of moved the story along, but Blake Edward's makes the budding relationship between the two look like something out of the 'L Word', and then just discard what went on between the two as if it never happened. After that things just do a complete round about turn into silly and what the hell! You might think that this is the point of a comedy but when there is no laugh's to be had it's hard to think you where actually watching a comedy. And also the comedy theme's,and backbone is tangled up in a lot of unanswered question's, for instance, Is murder okay? It is itn alright for men to treat woman like object's, and visa versa and load's of other question's that would just ruin the film for you's who have not seen it, but would that be such a bad thing?The acting in this film is impressive because it could of been awful, and over acted to get laughs but it is not. Ellen Barkin does a wonderful job in being a male trapped in a female's body. At times you even forget that she is woman playing a man, and you just think she a man playing a woman. And prop's go out to her lovely long blonde hair, what a hair do! The rest of the supporting cast to do well with their underwritten, and unfulfilled character's. Nobody is bad, but then nobody and even Ellen Barkin can stop this comedy becoming something other than a comedy, but they do try their damn hardest.All in all this gender swapping comedy is watchable, but only when your not doing anything and it just appear's on TV (cause that's how I seen it). It's funny in bit's but this film will have you re-writing the script and thinking what if. It is one of those films where you do really wish they stuck to to the tried and tested formula of gender swapping comedy because if it did it wouldn't really be that bad.

I just finished watching Switch on TV a few minutes ago, and came to IMDb to check out the reviews and recommendations. I can't believe no one has realized that Switch is basically a remake of Goodbye Charlie (1964), a Debbie Reynolds / Tony Curtis vehicle about a womanizer who is brought back as a woman. Surely Blake Edwards knew of the earlier movie. Why no one else on IMDb seems to know it, I cannot fathom.It's been years since I saw Goodbye Charlie, but I remember it as a mildly funny film. Switch didn't make me laugh once. I think Ellen Barkin is a fine actress, but her performance seemed too slapsticky in the early part of the film. Jimmy Smits can't emote, and was totally unbelievable whenever he played drunk.Basically, though, I'd have to say the script was too clichéd and the direction misguided. All the blame must fall to Blake Edwards.Goodbye Charlie was a piece of fluff, but Switch couldn't decide what it wanted to be and suffered for it.