The Switch

Garnering considerable publicity when Fox News' Bill O'Reilly condemned it for glorifying single motherhood, filmmakers Josh Gordon and Will Speck's romantic comedy The Switch begins in New York City with Kassie (Jennifer Aniston) realizing that her biological clock is ticking. Determined to be a mother despite having no partner, she tells her neurotic best friend Wally (Jason Bateman) that she's searching for the perfect sperm donor. When Cassie decides on handsome but married Roland (Patrick Wilson)—whom she finds online--she throws an “insemination party,” but unbeknownst to her, inebriated Wally surreptitiously substitutes his sample for Roland's. After becoming pregnant, Kassie moves to Minnesota to be with her family, but seven years later she's back in Manhattan as a single mom, with her precocious son Sebastian (Thomas Robinson). The now-divorced Roland is courting Kassie, but what will happen when she finds out that Wally is really Sebastian's biological father? Allen Loeb's cliché-riddled script, based on Jeffrey Eugenides' short story “Baster,” offers no surprises, while Aniston displays her usual frantic perkiness, and Bateman wallows in melancholy prickliness, allowing moppet Robinson to steal every scene he's in. Jeff Goldblum and Juliette Lewis serve as confidantes, and Good Morning America's Diane Sawyer makes a memorable cameo. Optional. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include deleted scenes and an alternate ending with intros by filmmakers Josh Gordon and Will Speck (25 min.), a “making-of” featurette (15 min.), and trailers. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release are bloopers (4 min.). Bottom line: a decent extras package for a so-so rom-com.] (S. Granger)