Jennifer Aniston: victim of a classic ‘Baste & Switch’
by Jeff Racheff
There are innumerable reasons why a movie might bomb in Hollywood today. Maybe the studio forgot to promote it. Maybe what started out as a family film scared away audiences after it received an NC-17 rating. Or maybe it just had a forgettable name.
Take The Switch for example. Jennifer Aniston’s latest cinematic hunt for love opened last weekend to little fanfare, poor reviews and a dismal performance at the box office. But it wasn’t rated X, and anyone who saw the side of a bus in the last month knows it wasn’t forgotten by the studio. No, it was victim of a name that failed to make anyone even care what it was about.
Naming aside, the movie has a potentially hilarious premise. It follows Aniston’s character as she tries to find a proper gentleman to father a child for her, eventually deciding to go it alone with the help of a donor. On the night of her “insemination party,” her best friend Wally (Jason Bateman) drunkenly spills the semen sample and replaces it with his own. Cue comedy, cue romance.
Unfortunately for Jennifer, a case of mistaken (sperm) identity is not enough to make a hit. The film imploded at the box office, earning barely $8 million in its first weekend in theaters. But the worst part is that it didn’t have to be that way. The film wasn’t always called The Switch — at the last minute studio execs changed it from its original title, The Baster.
Now there’s a name, right? Kissy-face romantic comedy or not, the title is unique enough to trigger a response and have you wondering what the hell it’s about. The Baster, huh? What is that, some sort of sexual marination? Perhaps a disturbing Thanksgiving dinner mishap? It’s intriguing and distinct. The Switch, on the other hand, could be about anything: a con man, a minor league hockey team, politics, the invention of the light switch — it buys you nothing.
Of course, there’s no telling if the film would have been more successful as The Baster. Bad movies are bad movies no matter what they’re called. Kevin Smith’s most recent flick was originally known as A Couple of Dicks before being back-handed with the name Cop Out. A Couple of Dicks gets you laughing before you even see the film, but it still wouldn’t have changed the fact that Bruce Willis was not put on this Earth to be funny.
Still, a good name can’t be underrated, a fact even Aniston knows. The actress voiced displeasure at the name-change, saying on the film’s opening night that she wished it was still called The Baster. “It changed because of 375 tests and meetings and focus groups,” she said. “Cool names like The Baster get switched to The Switch.”
Apparently these focus groups tried to make the film sound bland world-wide too. In Mexico it’s called Un Pequeno Cambio (A Small Change). The Polish call it Tak To Się Teraz Robi (That’s How It Is Done Now) and in France it’s known as Une Famille Tres Moderne (A Very Modern Family). So yes, not even the French could make this raunchy sex comedy sound raunchy or sexy.
The problem is, there’s nothing to differentiate this particular Aniston rom-com from any other. Rumor Has It, The Break-Up, Love Happens, Just Go With It, The Switch — It’s all one really long chick flick, morphing from one delightful romantic encounter to a jar of spilled semen and back again. Hey, at least there’s a happy ending.
