A half-cocked romantic comedy plants its seed on streaming

One of the most difficult challenges in creating a memorable, overachieving rom-com is to sell the audience on a story that not only makes sense but gives eagle-eyed viewers a reason to smile. And while some films within the genre’s scope have attained their immovable status as cult classics, other lackluster films under the aforementioned banner have succeeded only in falling flat — and 2010’s The Switch certainly comes to mind.

Directed by Will Speck and Josh Gordon, The Switch notably attached a certain level of high hopes, considering a handful of prolific Hollywood stars were leading the cast — including Friends star Jennifer Aniston and comedy bigwig Jason Bateman. And if those two glaring names weren’t enough to attract a broader audience, then the likes of Patrick Wilson, Juliette Lewis, and Jeff Goldblum should have been enough to draw significant praise.

In reality, the Aniston vehicle was trashed by no-nonsense critics for its generic plot formula and weak storytelling. Luckily for the star-studded cast, their individual performances were heavily recognized and applauded, although it couldn’t prevent the film’s overall bashing. As a result, the movie currently holds a middling 53 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes, with a 44 percent audience score to further establish its underwhelming success.

Despite its evident flaws, facetious HBO Max subscribers have tossed reviews to the side and embraced the absurdity of the comedy flick. As per FlixPatrol, The Switch has jumped 17 places to crack into the platform’s most-watched films in a variety of countries around the world.