User reviews

Is this a masterpiece ? No.

Does it deserve the bad critics? No.

Let's take the movie for what it is: a light family movie you can totally enjoy during the period of Christmas.

I watched the movie with my kids yesterday (10 and 8 years) and my wife.

We all enjoyed. The jokes are not always crazy good but good enough to make us laugh and have a good time.

The movie is obviously predictable but still, it did not bother me/us that much.

I would still recommend to people with a young family. It's light, entertaining and as mentioned funny.

Even for us as parents, there are some interesting messages (again, it's not deep but still, some nice reminders here and there that I enjoyed).

Give it a shot unless light family comedies aren't your thing.

This is a cute, feel-good movie that made me laugh out loud a few times and kept me entertained the rest of the time.

This falls squarely in the genre of "Disney-esque" movies that take place during the holidays, with lots of festive bells jingling and ding-donging throughout the score.

I wasn't expecting to raise my IQ by watching it, and of course I didn't. Nor was I expecting a transcendent work of cinematic art, and it wasn't.

But the acting was solid from all characters, the premise (while ridiculous, as all of these "body-swapping" stories are, unapologetically!) remained pretty steady throughout, and although it was predictable and formulaic, it wasn't over-the-top corny. (Sure, it was a little corny, but not TOO bad.)

There's even a cute dance sequence in the middle of the movie that turned suddenly sentimental and made me tear up for no discernable reason except that I am a pathetic sap, lol.

I enjoyed it and would recommend it if, like me, you enjoy sometimes just turning your brain off for a bit during the holidays, and watching something that's basically the cinematic equivalent of a warm snowman-shaped sugar cookie.

I have to admit that I had to watch Family Switch over two viewings. I found it sickly sweet and couldn't cope watching it in one hit. It's the typical oops we have switched bodies but something has to change in the family dynamics before we can be switched back scenario. I can't say that we need 'another' one of these films. If they were hoping it would be some holiday classic, I think they might have somewhat missed the mark.

Don't get me wrong, I didn't hate the film, I just didn't love it either.

Ed Helms was good in it, and so was Jennifer Garner and even the actors playing their kids. But it just felt like it was missing something, or maybe I am too old and jaded for this kind of film anymore.

The switching is not a new idea, ok, but the movie is funny, CHILDREN FRIENDLY and really enjoyable!

Not many films today like this, that you can watch with your 8-year old and your 15-year old and you all laugh! In my humble opinion it is worth watching at home, all together, with pizza or popcorn or whatever you like and get some good family time!

I miss the old movies before all the cgi and fast dialogs and action that are everywhere today. Classic awkward moments and messed situations! Movies like this are missing today!

Don't get me wrong, I don't mean that it's an amazing extraordinary movie but again, which family movie is nowadays?

To summarize, I don't know what all the critics in here are "hating ". Is it worth paying 4 tickets for your family to watch it in cinema? No! But guess what? You don't need to, it's on Netflix! So since you've already paid ENJOY IT!!

This still counts as a Christmas film despite only being set in the days leading up to it. I thought though it was a pretty magical film. Of course we know the story of big and freaky Friday but it is as Jess says a unique situation as a whole family has not been swapped before. Even dog pickle's and the baby get thier turn. I liked the acting here and it didn't feel cheesy like it is in some other holiday films like this. Garner. Helms and the two chil actoes were enjoyable and each of their goals you knew nothing would go right. Overall family switch was a nice holiday film and one certainly worthy of a re watch.

I was surprised to learn that the film had three separate writers. Although the plot appeared simple, the movie, despite featuring familiar faces, lacked any profound meaning. I typically seek out movies that hold a special place in my heart, like "Jingle All The Way" and many others, but contemporary films often fail to evoke that emotional resonance. One scene felt cliché, attempting to be inclusive by featuring every ethnicity and non-binary individual on one couch, potentially diluting its impact.

Regarding technical aspects, the cinematography is minimal. While the aerial view of Los Angeles from 3400 feet is visually striking, it doesn't contribute much beyond that. Despite being advertised as a holiday movie, you will notice there isn't much in the film that reiterates this.

Yes we have seen the concept of intergenerational body swaps innumerable times. Yes there are the usual tropes. Yes it can be silly.

But this movie is actually infused with the spirit of Christmas.

We teared. We laughed. We smiled. We nodded knowingly. We laughed hysterically. We felt warm and happy at the end of it.

All the leads were good but I found Jennifer Garner and Emma Myers particularly good. Ms. Garner really showed her comic skills.

This will not make best picture but it will make my annual list of Christmas movies. After all if you can't get sentimental or mawkish at Christmas then when?

Seems like this movie has a lot of bad reviews on here, but I completely disagree. I went in with little expectations, because unfortunately Netflix movies are hit and miss. But I liked it. Yes, the switching of bodies has been done a lot, but I thought the writers and actors did a great job of differentiating it from other storylines. It's wholesome and family friendly. There are only so many times you can watch the same family holiday movies. The casting was spot on and the actors seemed like they were having fun. It's definitely one I could watch again.

I appreciated that the sister was the jock and brother the nerdy smart guy. It's usually the other way around.

I don't understand why there are so many negative reviews. If you are searching for a nice family movie which some laughs and some nice moments, then don't hesitate to watch it. It is predicable but it is ok, you will still enjoy it.

Will I watch it again? Probably not. My daughters also enjoyed it. It has some nice family moments, and has a nice view of how the mother sacrifices for her daughter without knowing. This movie also sheds light about how families are not bonding together and how each is distracted in his own world and the mom tries to fix this.

As a conclusion, don't expect this to be the best movie, yet it is an enjoyable family movie, so don't care about the negative reviews.

"Family Switch" sounds like a temporary title; you'd walk into a meeting room and pitch "family switch" and assure the producers you'd come up with something better. But no, the laziness of this film is so astounding, that upon realizing no one had this title before, the filmmakers (and Netflix) decided to just go with it and not really question why.

I can't pretend like Family Switch is all that terrible; it crosses into "so bad it's good territory", particularly towards the end. The entire "high school partying" scene is truly glorious in how bizarre it is. The human interactions feel mechanical and strange, as if the writers had never been around humans before or been to a party. It was this moment when I began to suspect that this movie was in fact, not written by humans, but by an AI. (I'm only half joking)

Because everything else feels like an amalgamation of everything you've seen before in every family comedy ever made. What, you're telling me this zany body switch just-so-happens to occur at the time when EVERYONE has this big thing they need to do, with major implications for their future? NO WAY. And, it just so happens that everything just kinda sorta works out in the end? Color me surprised.

To be fair, I was actually pleasantly surprised by the performances. Jennifer Garner is pretty good here, probably because she's played this sort of role before. Emma Myers is also quite good as well, and surprisingly, the best out of the bunch. There are also some genuinely funny moments with the two of them, if they aren't a bit juvenile (I don't consider myself too refined for a well time fart joke).

But Ed Helms and Brady Noon...what on Earth was going on with these too? I get Helms' character Bill (truly memorable name, I know) is simultaneously the lamest Dad you could imagine, but also impossibly charming and suave? I guess the idea is that in a teenager's body, he could be "cool" again, but it's never really communicated properly.

Oh, and just to further my AI theory, this film is set at Christmas and is marketed as a "Christmas movie," but I can't consider it one in good conscious. It's a film "set at Christmas", but aside from a generic "appreciate your family" message, this film has barely anything to do with Christmas. Iron Man 3 is more of a Christmas movie than this one.

Still, I do think if you have some time to kill, this movie can be funny to watch in an awkward, cringe inducing sort of way. I guess that's fine.

After the fart scene I tuned off the movie.

Painful to watch... Especially considering great cast.

I felt embarrassed 😳

After the fart scene I tuned off the movie.

Painful to watch... Especially considering great cast.

I felt embarrassed 😳

After the fart scene I tuned off the movie.

Painful to watch... Especially considering great cast.

I felt embarrassed 😳

After the fart scene I tuned off the movie.

Painful to watch... Especially considering great cast.

I felt embarrassed 😳

After the fart scene I tuned off the movie.

Painful to watch... Especially considering great cast.

I felt embarrassed 😳

If you liked the movies Big, Freaky Friday, and The Hangover, you will absolutely love this movie. It's a smart, nerdy, witty, attention grabbing movie that is fun for the whole family. How can you go wrong with Jennifer Garner and Ed Helms? They are hysterical. (The bloopers a the end of the movie are worth the watch alone). And, bonus! Rita Moreno is a mysterious passerby that just happens to show up everywhere. Parents and teens alike will get a kick out of this movie. It speaks to all of us no matter your age. It's a feel good movie but not too sappy. Story is familiar but original and the acting is on point by the whole cast. Definitely a must see.

Tl;dr Don't watch it except maybe as babysitting for your 6 yr olds (and even then there's so many better movies they could watch).

I tried, I really tried, but this movie is so dumb and unfunny I couldn't make it through. Had to bow out about an hour in.

In case anyone doesn't know what the movie is about: It's Freaky Friday: Family Edition. Instead of just the mom and daughter switching bodies, the son and father switch as well, how original!

The plot is thus derivative.

The characters are ridiculous, the son is apparently a genius who regularly gives advice to Elon Musk. The daughter is a soccer prodigy. Because a story like this couldn't possibly work with normal teenage kids...

The humor is Kindergarten level: either the adults getting stuck in or on objects, or a dog peeing where it shouldn't pee, or "I was born in 2008, I don't know what Star Wars is", I'm guessing this movie takes place in the Netflix Cinmatic Universe where only Netflix exicsts as a streaming service (and they don't have the rights to Star Wars).

The movie is just really really dumb, the body switch is triggered by some planetary alignment and when the characters look through a large telescope the planets are literally lined up right next to each other, cause the AI who wrote this was clearly instructed to write at a 6 yr olds level.

The movie constantly has moments like this.

Also Rita Moreno's character is the actual worst.

In the end I gave this movie 3 stars, because I do really like Jennifer Garner and there was one joke that made me laugh.

The premise is fairly familiar - parents switch bodies with their children, and the structure is exactly what you would expect it to be, but what separates it from the films it references such as Big, 17 Again, Freaky Friday, and 13 Going on 30 (also starring Jennifer Garner) is that they gave room to let its characters breathe and apply a degree of verisimilitude to buy into the concept and the conflict. Right from the start, it appears that the people who worked on this had the mindset of either to go big or to go home, as a lot of it is fairly over-the-top, and comes across desperate to get a laugh from the viewer. The humor has its moments of attempted cleverness, but there is a lot of lowbrow comedy that diminishes the efforts to be smart. What doesn't work in the favor of the picture, is that the premise is presented three times in the story, and because the pace of it is very fast, and they're constantly trying to go for big laughs, there is not a clear enough focus and not enough time to invest in the relationships and conflict. I have not read the story this is based off of, so I cannot judge it as an adaptation, as a motion picture though I would have to describe this as being average at best, I probably would have rated it lower had it been released in theatres and I had to pay more than I do for Netflix monthly to watch it.

It's that very special time of year when every network starts to pull out their reserves of impossibly cute Christmas movies. Some of them are good. Some of them are bad. Family Switch lies somewhere in the middle. The body switch genre has been done a bunch of times before but I did enjoy how both parents switched with both of their kids. (I won't get into the baby and dog thing which was just their for sight gags) The body switch is bad enough but it also happens when they all have pretty important life changing events about to happen.

This is likely going to get alot of mixed reviews because it is silly. It's a Christmas movie and most of them are. It's the silly movie time of year. But the movie also has some real things to say about family. And how parents and children relate to each other. Even if this isn't your usual kind of movie it isn't horrible and at least worth the watch. It's Christmas after all.

In what can only be described as a cinematic stumble, "Family Switch" takes a well-worn plot - the old body swap routine - and manages to make it even more uninspiring. The premise is ripe for hilarity: a nuclear family, the Walkers, get their minds swapped at a planetarium. Sounds fun, right? Not quite. The execution is as dull as a Monday morning algebra class. Jess and Bill, thrust into the lives of teenagers, are reduced to cringe-worthy caricatures of teen angst, while CC and Wyatt, navigating adulthood, seem to have the emotional range of a teaspoon. It's like watching a sitcom that's lost its laugh track.

Director McG, known for his kinetic and visually vibrant style, seems to have taken a vacation on this one. The film lacks his usual flair, with scenes playing out in monotonous sequences that feel more like a PowerPoint presentation than a movie. The humor, which should be the film's saving grace, falls flat. There's an attempt at slapstick, but it's so poorly timed it feels like watching a stand-up comedian forget the punchline. And let's not forget the plot holes - they're big enough to drive a truck through. Why does no one outside the family notice these drastic personality changes? The film doesn't seem to care, and neither will you.

But the real letdown is the missed opportunity to explore the complexities of family dynamics and generational differences. Instead, "Family Switch" opts for surface-level gags and overused tropes. It's a film that feels like it was made on autopilot, with a script that could've used a few more rewrites (or a complete overhaul). In the end, "Family Switch" is a forgettable addition to the body-swap genre and a massive departure from the vibrant energy we've come to expect from McG. It's like ordering a sundae and getting a bowl of plain yogurt - disappointing and bland.

You know what ? The real sad thing in this day and age is that people expect 'realism' and 'drama' in films and sadly they've forgotten the escapism, entertainment and just a good time out watching the screen.

I couldn't believe the low ratings for this movie ! ... I thoroughly enjoyed this ! ...Why ? Because it was FUN !! Whatever you do, DON'T expect a 'deep and meaningful' message, even though that comes across, but it's wrapped up in a very clever role play reversal of mum, dad and the kids chaotic attempt at finding themselves in each others bodies ( a bit of a new take on Tom Hanks 'Big' movie ) The acting of the different role-plays between mother, father, son and daughter was really well done and unlike a lot of comedy I see these days, I had a lot of GOOD laughs ! ( especially the role reversal between the French bulldog and the baby ! ) The concept of too many Christmas movies these days is so cheesy and syrupy but this (?) was just good old fashioned fun and a great fantasy ride and should leave you at the closing credits with at least a smile .... sure is a welcome change from some of the heavy stuff that films are these days.

I read some of the reviews, and I am somewhat surprised by the harshness. I found the movie sweet and light and just enjoyable. Not every movie out there has to be cinematic art. Sometimes what you need on a rainy weekend afternoon is to curl up in front of the tv to enjoy something lighthearted and wholesome. Yes, the switcheroo bit has been done sooo many times, but hey, so have many superhero movies and I don't see anyone complaining (seriously, how many Spider-Man movies do we need?). No, it was not a particularly clever plot, but I fully enjoyed watching the actors chemistry, and dare I say, found myself laughing out loud in some spots.