The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
Boy Erased
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Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Critic Consensus: No consensus yet.
All Critics (10) | Top Critics (5) | Fresh (3) | Rotten (7)
The subject certainly isn't dated, but the film's dull post-John Hughes, sub-Judd Apatow style of comedy is like a just-buried time capsule full of accumulated clichés.
A largely enjoyable and credible coming-of-age romp, despite some forced broadness and uneven pacing.
Like a fresh ripple in the near-stagnant high school movie pool, Chris Nelson's "Date and Switch" balances formula with winning performers, genuine humor and a generosity of spirit that this genre too often lacks.
In its sloppy humor and unabashedly earnest expressions of friendship and romance, the movie feels like any likable, and generally forgettable, teen comedy. And yet with its casually handled twist, the genre ambles forward just a little bit.
It's a movie about being true to yourself that's reluctant to let its real character show. At any point that it looks likely to tweak sex-comedy convention or get truly weird, it reverses course at the last minute.
"Date and Switch" should have had something new to say about high school friendships. It doesn't.
In place of authentic emotion and searing personal communication, there's cliche and passivity, plasticizing the kindly nature of the picture to a point where all the tension begins to resemble a bad sitcom.
Date And Switch is a plucky step in the right direction for diversity in teen comedies, but it lacks the extra oomph to stand on its own merits.
Lame jokes (even when delivered by comedic vets like Megan Mullally and Nick Offerman) mixed with painfully paced sequences make this potential-filled rom-com fall flat.
The film's forced quirkiness and repeated displays of bro-ism in action hinder the potential for a more subtle approach to the potentially challenging issue the story depicts.
A silly and completely forgettable teen comedy that is rarely funny and only offers us cliché after cliché after cliché, with a lot of artificial conflicts and uninspired dialogue (despite a few good moments here and there); but at least it is a good thing that it has a heart.
Super Reviewer
Starts off okay, had high hopes, but average in the end. Not awful, but not memorable either. Kind of a gay American Pie feel to it, but the sequels, not the original cast ones. Okay for the free rental it was, but not a movie I would buy or rewatch. If you like teen movies, and it's free on TV, you might not find it a total waste of an hour and a half.
If you are a fan of teen comedies, you should like this fresh approach to this genre of the director Chris Nelson and writer Alan Yang. Starring Nicholas Braun, Hunter Cope, Dakota Johnson, and Zach Cregger, it was originally titled Gay Dude, but the name was changed for better marketing. For me was nothing special, but I can see that lots of teens would love it with a reason - completely different than most of the teen comedies recently, but still enough clichés to compare! The story of two best friends starts in their primary school... and moves to the time when Matty and Michael are still two best friends and virgins who vow to each other they will have sex before their senior prom. However, Matty tells Michael that he is gay, changing their quest... and putting lots of pressure on the friendship. On a budget under $2 million they could not go wrong and the producers will definitely get their money back. But, I really would not recommend this to anyone whose hormones are not raging at the moment. It had fun moments, not bad camera work, excellent editing but I will question the casting decisions!
three stars
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