- Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
- Video Codec: VC-1
- Resolution: 1080p/24
- Audio Codec: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
- Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
- Rating: PG-13
- Region: A (B? C?)
- Discs: 1
- Studio: Lionsgate
- Blu-ray Release Date: March 15, 2011
- List Price: $39.99
[amazon-product align=”right”]B004IK30R8[/amazon-product]
BestBuy.com:
Purchase The Switch on Blu-ray at CD Universe
Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com
Overall
[Rating:3.5/5]
The Film
[Rating:3/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:3/5]
Click thumbnails for high-resolution 1920X1080p screen captures
(Screen captures are lightly compressed with lossy JPEG thus are meant as a general representation of the content and do not fully reveal the capabilities of the Blu-ray format)
The Film
[Rating:3/5]
Josh Gordon and Will Speck direct this adaptation of Jeffrey Eugenides’ short story from The New Yorker, The Baster. The Switch is marketed as yet a other run-of-the-mill rom-com starring Jennifer Aniston, this time alongside Jason Bateman, but The Switch is surprisingly a little less rom-com and a little more of a heartwarming drama about a man getting to know the son he didn’t realize he had. That’s not to say the movie is all good and without its flaws.
Aniston and Bateman play Kassie (Aniston) and Wally (Bateman), once a couple now best friends. Wally is a miserable hypochondriac who spends his days being critical of everyone and everything. The 40-year-old Kassie has reached a crossroads in her life and now has come to a decision – she’s going to have a baby. Their latent attraction for each other pushed aside, Kassie is determined to find the perfect sperm donor, who is obviously not Wally and Wally can’t come to terms with Kassie’s decision to become a single mom – especially of he’s not involved, at least, he won’t admit that to himself.
This leads to the film’s central twist and the biggest hurdle for allowing the audience to even like Wally. When Kassie throws an “I’m Getting Pregnant” party, which Wally attends, in a bout of absolutely madness, he hijacks Kassie’s pregnancy by swapping the donor’s donation with his own deposit. How do the writers solve this problem? Well, they make Wally so despondent that he gets absolutely hammered, the result of which is a seven-year bout of memory loss surrounding the events of that evening, until Kassie and her son move back to New York from Minnesota. When Wally notices too many similarities between himself and the six-year-old Sebastian (Thomas Robinson), his memories begin to come back.
At this point, the film becomes a touching story about a man and his young son both bringing each other out of their otherwise walled-up worlds. Aniston doesn’t get much screen time from here on out, and it is definitely not a rom-com. Still, one can’t help but see the inevitable conclusion the film is hurdling towards and think that how ridiculous it is that after the despicable act perpetrated by this guy who wasn’t that likable to begin with that could possibly be the conclusion.
Jason Bateman definitely carries this film, putting in a typically spot-on performance with his impeccable comic timing, but even his performance is often upstaged by the adorably melancholy performance of the young Thomas Robinson with his puppy dog eyes and frowning mouth. The only true laughs from this supposed comedy, however, come from Jeff Goldblum as Wally’s wacky boss.
Video Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
The Switch’s 1080p VC-1 encodement is clean and clear with good detail and natural flesh tones. Darker scenes display a good amount of shadow delineation without any crush and there is a thin vneer of grain that remains consistent and film-like throughout the run of the film.
Audio Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
The sole DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless option is pretty straightforward, keeping the dialogue mainly in the center channel and most of the sound across the front arc, but there is a good amount of audible atmospherics in the surrounds more a life-like mix that ties it all together.
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:3/5]
The supplements on The Switch can hardly be called a windfall for anyone considering purchasing this release, especially not with a $40 list price. In any case, the blooper reel and deleted and alternate scenes are nice extras, if if they will wear thin pretty quickly.
The supplements provided with this release are:
- The Switch Conceived (1.78:1; 1080p/24; 0:14.37) – How the short story from The New Yorker was turned into a feature film.
- Deleted Scenes & Alternate Ending (1.78:1; 1080p/24) – This section also contains an alternate pregnancy hijacking scene.
- Bloopers (1.78:1; 1080p/24;0:03.45)
The Definitive Word
Overall:
[Rating:3.5/5]
The Switch has its problems as a romantic comedy, but the sweet story about a father and son connecting with each other that anchors the center of the film and the strong performances of Jason Bateman and the young Thomas Robinson make it decent enough to watch. Rent it.
Additional Screen Captures:
[amazon-product align=”right”]B004IK30R8[/amazon-product]
BestBuy.com:
Purchase The Switch on Blu-ray at CD Universe
Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com
Overall
[Rating:3.5/5]
The Film
[Rating:3/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:3/5]
