There’s a new number one movie on Netflix right now, with Adam Sandler’s Leo finally falling from the top spot.
Its replacement is another family film. Called Family Switch, it stars Jennifer Garner, Ed Helms and Emma Myers and is directed by McG, who brought the Charlie’s Angels franchise to the big screen.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen Garner in a hit Netflix movie. She starred in both Yes Day and The Adam Project and the hits just keep on coming for her.
It’s also not the first time he’s starred in a body switch movie. Like 13 Going On 30 before it, Family Switch is about an entire family switching places.
It’s an interesting, if well-worn, concept, and despite the film’s popularity with Netflix viewers, it’s split critics right down the middle.
Family Switch currently has a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 50%.
First the good reviews…
The Daily Beast notes: The switcheroos hit an entire dysfunctional family, and not just an opposing mother and daughter, setting up four actors to deliver comically over-the-top dual performances of adolescence and middle age.
Says Screen Rant: Family Switch delivers some laughs, some cringes, and plenty of heart, even if it breaks no new ground for this ridiculous, beloved premise.
Collider calculates: This new riff on body-swapping comedy is more than a little familiar, but a charming cast makes it a comfortable watch.
While Deadline says: Guess what? It works, even providing a few LOL moments along the way in a movie that isn’t trying to reinvent anything here, just finding a new angle to squeeze a little more life out of it.
But not everyone is convinced…
The Hollywood Reporter says: It’s just hard to feel so deeply for characters so flat and sweet who might as well be gingerbread people, solving problems that barely seemed to exist to begin with.
The New York Times not a fan, noting: The real nail in the coffin is the film’s messages about the power of family, which is about as stuck-up and twisted as it gets — not shocking in light of the rest of Netflix’s holiday movie lineup.
The guardian it’s not down with juvenile humor: There are several shots of the dog peeing under the Christmas tree, as well as a close-up of a commemorative colonoscopy photo, and a recurring joke that involves…bites of ice cream and then furious pranking.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports: It’s not a joy to honestly observe that if awfulness were incarnate and saw this movie, it would say, “Wow, too awful for me.”
The full list of Netflix’s top 10 movies worldwide is as follows:
- 1. Family Switch
- 2. Leo
- 3. Last call for Istanbul
- 4. Better. Christmas. Always!
- 5. The Grinch
- 6. Crime Diaries: The Celebrity Stylist
- 7. Film Bee
- 8. The killer
- 9. How the Grinch Stole Christmas
- 10. Leo
For up-to-date recommendations on what to watch, head to our What to Watch… guide
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