From rec.arts.sf-reviews Sun Jun 2 14:29:00 1991 Path: herkules.sssab.se!isy!liuida!sunic!uupsi!rpi!think.com!cass.ma02.bull.com!mips2!know!jjmhome.UUCP From: lmann@jjmhome.UUCP (Laurie Mann) Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf-reviews Subject: REVIEW: SWITCH Message-ID: <110@monster.pws.ma30.bull.com> Date: 21 May 91 12:32:13 GMT Expires: 18 Jun 91 13:00:00 GMT References: <103@monster.pws.ma30.bull.com> Sender: wex@pws.ma30.bull.com Reply-To: lmann@jjmhome.UUCP (Laurie Mann) Followup-To: rec.arts.movies Organization: Game-of-Life Lines: 56 Approved: ecl@cbnewsj.att.com SWITCH A film review by Laurie Mann Copyright 1991 Laurie Mann SWITCH is a clever idea with a very strong lead in search of a decent script and supporting characters. If it weren't for Ellen Barkin's outstanding performance, it wouldn't be worth anyone's time. It was a major disappointment for me, especially since Blake Edwards' previous gender-bender (VICTOR/VICTORIA) was perceptive, sharp, and very funny for the entire movie. SWITCH is just plain muddled. There was a movie with overtones of SWITCH made in the early 1980s---I think it was called GOODBYE CHARLIE, and Debbie Reynolds plays the reincarnated man. I think it was a funnier movie than SWITCH. In SWITCH, a slime named Steve Brooks is murdered while in the company of three of his ex-lovers. Brooks is sent back to Earth to find one woman who loves him, or be sent straight to hell. The devil makes it more complicated for him by giving Steve an instant sex change. So Steve, now calling himself Amanda, has to cope with being an MCP in a woman's body that he is *quite* attracted to. Amanda is hysterical at first, but suddenly realizes she can either be a woman or be dead. She decides to live with it. SWITCH is one of those movies that virtually every funny scene in the movie is in the trailer. The script just refuses to take many chances, and the supporting characters aren't at all interesting. The hair and high heel jokes turn tired instantly, but are repeated for about an hour of the movie. I think Amanda might have dressed like a super-fem once or twice, but would have quit in favor of comfort. The sparks never really fly between Amanda and Walter (Jimmy Smits, an earnest performance but basically a flat one), as drinking buddies with a twist. The one part of the movie that *might* have been interesting was the possible relationship between Amanda and Ms. Flaxon (Lorraine Braccho). Amanda knows that Ms. Flaxon is gay, and figures she can bed her and get her business. But Amanda faints rather than make love to a woman, because, as one of his ex-lovers reminds him "You're a homophobe, so you couldn't make love to a woman." Apparently, an earlier cut of the movie *did* land them in bed, but it was re-edited. A pity. The only supporting character who "had a life" was JoBeth Williams as one of Amanda's murderous ex-lovers. She was *very* funny as the flustered, rich murderer who only lived to party. This movie is a six on the Chuck scale, but only because of Barkin's performance. She was terrific. Otherwise, stay home and watch VICTOR/VICTORIA or TOOTSIE if you want to see a good gender-bender comedy. A comment on the ending: Did anyone *not* see that one coming?????? Laurie Mann lmann%jjmhome@m2c.m2c.org NeXT Mail: lmann@vineland.pubs.stratus.com From rec.arts.sf-reviews Sun Jun 2 14:30:36 1991 Path: herkules.sssab.se!isy!liuida!sunic!kth.se!eru!bloom-beacon!mintaka!think.com!cass.ma02.bull.com!know!mtgzy.att.com From: leeper@mtgzy.att.com (Mark R. Leeper) Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf-reviews Subject: REVIEW: SWITCH Message-ID: <103@monster.pws.ma30.bull.com> Date: 21 May 91 12:34:15 GMT Expires: 18 Jun 91 13:00:00 GMT Sender: wex@pws.ma30.bull.com Reply-To: leeper@mtgzy.att.com Followup-To: rec.arts.movies Organization: AT&T, Middletown NJ Lines: 69 Approved: ecl@cbnewsj.att.com SWITCH A film review by Mark R. Leeper Copyright 1991 Mark R. Leeper Capsule review: This is a tasteless, sexist film about why it is bad to be a male chauvinist in a strange world that bears little resemblance to mine. A brainless man is murdered and returns to earth as a brainless woman. SWITCH is Blake Edwards begin part of the problem and pretending he is part of the solution. Rating: -1 (-4 to +4). I think everybody knows that Blake Edwards is a successful filmmaker. I get the impression that he retreated into Beverly Hills some time around when hula hoops were in and he has not stepped out into the real world since. That is fine by me. He writes funny movies like the Clouseau films set in a never-Never-Land-Europe or set in his hermetically sealed world where you can go to one store to buy clothes and spend $41,000, and where if you catch someone by surprise she has only $3000 in her purse. (These are plot elements from SWITCH.) That is fine. Edwards bragging about how much money people in his class have is no worse than Bob Fosse bragging about how much sex he gets in ALL THAT JAZZ. Edwards has made a lot of people laugh and he is welcome to his world. Where the rub comes is where he starts making comedies with supposed social relevance. In SWITCH, Edwards tackles the thorny issue of male chauvinism in an Edwards-Never-Land among his usual assortment of under-dressed buxom women and mannequin men. The sexism in his world is the blatant stupid sexism of boors and is of an entirely different character from the subtle and ambiguous sexism that occurs in my world. Steve Brooks (played by Perry King) is successful in advertising. ("Advertising" is Hollywood shorthand for he isn't a policeman and he doesn't make films. Ever notice how often advertising shows up as an occupation in films. How many films can you name where the main character is in plumbing supply or auto parts or has made a career of software engineering? How many people work for a corporation with more than one level of management above them?) Brooks is going about his humdrum life--he is having a hot tub party with three naked women--when he is murdered. Heaven, appalled by his sexism, sends him back to earth where he must stay until he can find a woman to like him. But he is sent back as a woman. This situation has a lot of possibilities, some comedic, some silly, some interesting, some controversial. Edwards toys with most of the possibilities, but flinches every time he gets too close to ideas that might be interesting or controversial. Mostly we see Amanda Brooks (Ellen Barkin as the female reincarnation) feeling herself, feeling other women, and wearing skirts too short and sitting with her legs apart like a man so the camera can get crotch shots. Most irritating is the misfire running gag of her stumbling around on high-heeled shoes. It is intended to get funnier each time and it simply gets more and more annoying. Apparently high-heeled shoes are the only kind women wear in Edwards-Never-Land. Barkin goes through the movie oscillating between playing a really boorish male chauvinist and getting fed up with men treating her the way she treats women. Edwards's idea of what sexism is about seems to be more connected with men who get too much sex or who proposition strange women in the street, actions more common in Edwards-Never-Land than in my world. It does not seem to have much to do with equal pay for equal work or even about filmmakers doing films about naked women in hot tubs. Incidentally, equal pay is notably NOT and issue in this film. The main character is paid more as a woman than she was as a man for the same job. SWITCH is a film that leaves a very bad taste in your mouth, and more so the more you think about the film. SWITCH this one off. For the sake of a good, if not very well-chosen, acting job by Barkin and for some competence in being entertaining I rate this film a charitable -1 on the -4 to +4 scale. Mark R. Leeper att!mtgzy!leeper leeper@mtgzy.att.com From rec.arts.sf-reviews Sun Jun 2 14:31:54 1991 Path: herkules.sssab.se!isy!liuida!sunic!mcsun!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!think.com!cass.ma02.bull.com!mips2!know!hydra.unm.edu From: rsnappy@hydra.unm.edu (Roger Snappy Rubio) Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf-reviews Subject: REVIEW: SWITCH Message-ID: <108@monster.pws.ma30.bull.com> Date: 31 May 91 16:42:29 GMT References: <103@monster.pws.ma30.bull.com> Sender: wex@pws.ma30.bull.com Reply-To: rsnappy@hydra.unm.edu (Roger Snappy Rubio) Followup-To: rec.arts.movies Organization: University of New Mexico, Albuquerque Lines: 81 Approved: ecl@cbnewsj.att.com SWITCH A film review by Roger Snappy Rubio Copyright 1991 Roger Snappy Rubio SWITCH Starring: Ellen Barkin, Jimmy Smits, Jobeth Williams, Lorraine Bracco Produced by Tony Adams Written and Directed by Blake Edwards An interesting movie. That's the least I could say about SWITCH, a new comedy from the man who brought us VICTOR/VICTORIA and 10, the one and only Blake Edwards. Blake Edwards has quite a reputation for directing the awkward and uncomfortable, and he has done a good job directing Ellen Barkin in this film. I humbly think that this movie could do wonders for Barkin, but for Edwards, I don't think it will have such a profound impact. SWITCH is the story of womanizer Steve Brooks. Steve has been rotten to women all his life, treating them as if they were objects to be played with and enjoyed. Every female he has ever come in contact with hates his guts. So one night, three of his former girlfriends decide to throw him a surprise party, which they notify him of. The surprise, however, is a big one--it's his death. Now that Steve is stuck in purgatory, God must decide whether or not he goes to heaven or hell (good move by Edwards making God's voice both male and female--it satisfies everyone). Since he is on equal footing on both good and bad deeds, God decides to send him back to Earth, and challenges him to find just one female that likes him. If he does, he goes to heaven. If not... well, you know. But the devil intervenes, saying he has as much a right to Steve as God does, and if he comes back as a man, it will be too easy for him. So the devil suggests a rather interesting idea ... he should come back as a woman. So I've spoiled the first part of the story; I won't spoil the rest of it. This movie had enormous potential for even more funny scenes than the ones already in it (don't get me wrong, it has it's fair share), and it explores several issues about what it's like being a woman, but it never really follows through on most of them. I think the problem is that there is so much that can happen to a man in a woman's body that every possible situation could not fit into one movie. The ones Edwards does explore are some pretty awkward situations, and he handles them quite well. I cannot say enough about Ellen Barkin's performance. She always had a little touch of stereotypical masculinity in her acting (which makes me think Edwards wrote this screenplay with her in mind) and it makes her perfect for this role. She talks like a man, sits like a man, and even walks like one very convincingly. She does everything I think a man would do in a woman's body without realizing it, and it provides for some very funny scenes. Barkin was superb--tremendous--excellent! The story, however, is a bit rushed. As I said before, there's only so much that can happen in one movie. One thing happens right after the other, as though Edwards wanted to get in as much as he can. The closest movie to this one that Edwards had made previously would have to be VICTOR/VICTORIA, which dealt with male homosexuality. SWITCH deals somewhat with female homosexuality, but in a relativistic sort of way (in one way, it's not homosexuality, because the subject is a man in a woman's body, but on the other hand, he is a woman through and through!). And in my opinion the film does not deal with it enough. Perhaps Edwards should have focused only on what it's like to be a woman and not have introduced the lesbian aspect. That would have made room for some more funny situations. Also, although it might be trivial, I must mention that I found the scenes where any of the characters are drunk to be unconvincing. They acted as if they had a subtle form of hiccups. But all in all, they did pretty good. SWITCH is definitely better than some of Edwards' previous movies (a la A FINE MESS), but not better than all of them. I believe it is a worthy candidate for induction into the Blake Edwards Hall of Fame. I think this film might wind up being compared extensively to TOOTSIE (with Dustin Hoffman) by the critics (as it is the closest relative as far as the plot line goes). As far as this comparison is concerned, SWITCH does not stand on its own. Nevertheless, it is a good movie, and worthy of at least matinee price at the box office. THE SNAPMAN rsnappy@hydra.unm.edu (Roger Rubio) From rec.arts.sf-reviews Sun Jun 2 14:33:24 1991 Path: herkules.sssab.se!isy!liuida!sunic!mcsun!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!think.com!cass.ma02.bull.com!mips2!know!leland.stanford.edu From: repnomar@leland.stanford.edu (Janet M. Lafler) Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf-reviews Subject: REVIEW: SWITCH Message-ID: <109@monster.pws.ma30.bull.com> Date: 31 May 91 16:42:39 GMT References: <103@monster.pws.ma30.bull.com> Sender: wex@pws.ma30.bull.com Reply-To: repnomar@leland.stanford.edu (Janet M. Lafler) Followup-To: rec.arts.movies Organization: AIR, Stanford University Lines: 70 Approved: ecl@cbnewsj.att.com SWITCH A film review by Janet M. Lafler Copyright 1991 Janet M. Lafler SWTICH is a sexual role-reversal comedy directed by Blake Edwards and starring Ellen Barkin which has funny and insightful moments, but also has a great many holes. The premise is simple: Steve Brooks is an inveterate womanizer hated by women everywhere. After being killed by three former girlfriends he lands in Purgatory, where he is told that he is a borderline case; he has done enough good to be eligible for heaven, but has behaved so horribly to women that he's also a candidate for hell. To resolve the difficulty, he's sent back to earth to find one female who likes him. Thanks to a suggestion from the Devil, he goes back as a woman. The bulk of the movie deals with Steve (in his female persona, Amanda) trying to get by as a woman for long enough to find a woman who likes him. As Amanda, Barkin turns in a great performance. Tottering on her high heels, tugging at her unfamiliar female finery, walking, talking and gesturing in masculine fashion, she performs just broadly enough to be funny without being ridiculous. The movie deals with the various possibilities inherent in this switch with uneven success. Steve's reaction to his female body, including his persistent habit of acting as if it were someone else's body, is well-handled, and often quite funny. ("Did you get a look at my legs?" s/he asks best friend Walter, played by Jimmy Smits.) His sexual adjustment is also handled well; there is no easy way for him to slide into either lesbianism or heterosexuality as a woman. There are problems, though. I found myself wondering whether a man who had just turned into a woman would dress like that. There's no reason that Steve/Amanda immediately has to put on four-inch stiletto heels. Then there's the question of just what's good about Steve Brooks. Walter mentions that he's done many kind things, but we're never told what they are, and I find it hard to understand how someone who's supposedly so good could really be such a jerk to women. All women. (Either his mother's dead or she hates him too; at any rate, she's never mentioned.) And there's at least one glaring continuity error. (Hint: I don't know anyone whose hair could grow eight inches in five months.) On a more serious and subtle level, the movie-makers seem to be assuming that spending a few days or months as a woman can make a man really understand what it is like to be a woman, a premise I find unconvincing. (A similar transformation occurs in TOOTSIE.) Only a few days after the switch, Amanda complains about how an ad doesn't really reflect women's experience; in fact, once Steve becomes a woman he pretty quickly begins spouting feminist rhetoric. While I would like to believe that any man who woke up one day in a woman's body would become a feminist, there are limits to what makes sense. When Amanda starts holding forth on date rape, it doesn't ring true. In the end, the movie's feminist pieties strike me as rather cheap. As a comedy, this movies succeeds, but when it tries to get serious about the differences between men's and women's experiences, it's often frustrating and shallow. SWITCH is an engaging movie, worth going to see simply for Barkin's performance. (Supporting performances are competent, but not exciting.) Pacing falters somewhat in the last third of the movie, but in general Barkin's energy keeps things moving. Janet Lafler -- send mail to: repnomar@leland.stanford.edu (In answer to your first question, Repnomar is a character in M.J. Engh's The Wheel of the Winds.)