The Switch

(M) Roadshow DVD/BD

You always know a film is punching above its weight when they feel the need to mention that it’s made by “the people who brought you Juno”.

In the romantic comedy universe it seems Jennifer Aniston is the go-to gal for lightweight fluffy and insubstantial films about the laws of attraction.

This film isn’t for people who find jokes about infertility problematic. The plot — about a woman who decides to become pregnant through artificial insemination — is both laboured and unfunny.

The fact that the film wastes most of its running time on unfunny jokes about conceiving children doesn’t really help its cause.

Aniston is partnered with Jason Bateman. Bateman at least makes an effort to find both the comedy and an emotional core to his character (above and beyond the call of duty in this case). But Aniston never lets us see anything behind the sitcom facade of her character. Her sudden need to have a child never feels real; it just seems the necessary catalyst to kick-start what is a very unfunny film about the perils of conception and parenthood.

Adrian Drayton