The Big Picture
Family Switch is a body-swapping comedy film starring Jennifer Garner and Ed Helms as parents trying to reconnect with their kids. The trailer highlights the family’s disconnect and their struggle to understand each other’s lives. The film explores the challenges and hilarious moments that arise as the family navigates important moments in their lives while in each other’s bodies.
Netflix is bringing the body-swapping chaos in the trailer for McG’s new comedy film Family Switch. The film stars Jennifer Garner and Ed Helms as Jess and Bill Walker, a mother and father expending all efforts to keep their family close together as their kids gain more independence and drift farther apart. Following a run-in with an astrological reader, however, they get the chance to see everything from each other’s perspective with a full body swap on the most critical day of their lives. It’s up to Jess and Bill to lock down a soccer tryout and a college offer while their children CC (Emma Myers) and Wyatt (Brady Noon) pilot their parents’ bodies toward a promotion and a record deal.
It takes almost no time for the trailer to show how disconnected the Walker family is. Jess and Bill fail to listen to each other while CC and Wyatt commit themselves to their studies and practice in a way the parents don’t understand. As the holidays approach, they take a family trip to make a memory together, though it just devolves into a big fight where they utter the words you never say in a body-swap comedy — “I wish you could be me.” Rita Moreno, who plays the astrologer taking their photo, was listening in on the argument and makes that wish a reality the very next morning. With a reference to Garner’s previous film 13 Going on 30, they realize the severity, and hilarity, of their situation.
Family Switch is all about family as the Walkers try their best to navigate each other through the most important moments of their life. Whether it’s Jess trying to teach CC how to “be a boss” in the office or Wyatt despairing at his dad’s awkward prom moment with his crush, they experience some growing pains as they become more in tune with each other’s lives than ever. They’re bound and determined to get through the day, however, and hopefully, they’ll come out on the other side with the spell broken and their family dynamic stronger than ever.
‘Family Switch’ Isn’t Your Average Body Swap Movie
Image via Netflix
Based on Amy Krouse-Rosenthal’s book Bedtime For Mommy, Family Switch features a screenplay penned by Finding Dory scribe Victoria Strouse and Black Adam writer Adam Sztykiel. Together with McG, they’ve taken the body swap angle to a new level beyond obvious comparisons like Freaky Friday with a whole family being involved down to the baby and the dog. Producer Lawrence Gray previously told Collider’s Steve Weintraub how important it was to have everyone swapped both because it generated the film’s funniest moments, such as Matthias Schweighöfer scrambling to care for a baby dog and dog baby that are “spending too much time together,” while still keeping the family relationship drama at the forefront.
Making the family comedy all the sweeter is a strong supporting cast including Netflix favorites like Army of the Dead and Heart of Stone star Schweighöfer alongside comedian and FUBAR alum Fortune Feimster. Bashir Salahuddin, Xosha Roquemore, Ilia Isorelýs Paulino, and Paul Scheer round out the cast.
Family Switch arrives on Netflix on November 30. In the meantime, you can add it to your watchlist below and check out our guide to some of the best films for the whole family the streamer has to offer here.
Watch on Netflix
Watch the trailer for The Family Switch: