Switch Up (2024)

Switch-Up-(2024)
Switch Up (2024)

It’s hard to think that every film will be exactly how its creator intended. Some will have one or two aspects that will just fail and that can be due to the stars or the writing or such. Others will just miss the mark comprehensively. Even in the worst-case scenario though, as a viewer, you always hope that there is some intention of the director to tell at the very least an interesting story, and even though there were some complications, it was a fault that could have been avoided. Sadly, but not incomprehensibly.

The soporific romantic comedy that is premiering for the first time in the world at the SXSW Festival centers around the obnoxious yet popular local TV host Ricardo de la Cruz (Cristián de la Fuente) in his sporadically condescending journey of self-discovery and of becoming a decent human being. After declining ratings, he goes to Texas over a friend’s backyard barbecue to do a segment about Cassie Harris’s (Julieth Restrepo) soup kitchen and her entourage. During the shootout, he is reported as a Ponzi scheme organizer and the FBI freezes his accounts. He ends up homeless and at the mercy of Cassie to help him get back on his feet. It is the first time in his life when he experienced poverty and was homeless but this terrible time of his life in South Texas makes him a better person and introduces him to a beautiful and meaningful woman.

You probably already have an idea of how Switch Up goes based on its synopsis, and you would be right. It is a pity that for most parts, the film has the sickening aesthetics of a Hallmark film bland, sharp, and cheap. The major difference between those films and this one is a shallow look. As cringe as they are, and as scripted as the plot is, there is a touch of sincerity in Hallmark movies that, although with nothing new, is great and best of all, appreciated by its endless admirers. Switch Up definitely aims for it, throwing every narrative and visual device imaginable at its audience, trying to nd the right emotional chords from tragic flashbacks to heartfelt confessions.

There are probably the few genuine or earned moments in Switch Up that are few and far between. What are the story beats in it are at best idiotic and ridiculous, and border an insult even to the weakest of film logic. It makes us think that because somebody has apparently altered a photograph, they are able to make an FBI indictment that would wipe Ricardo out completely so that he would have the means to counter those allegations. The film treats time as an elastic band, putting things into perspective that Ricardo was in Texas for days or weeks, depending on the montage that one is watching.

The most laughable is surely Marie, Ricardo’s producer, also knowing the set-up rather early on but then being abducted by the villain of the piece, who says that she has gone to some rehab of her own. On some occasions, the movie looks aware of its own absurdity, still, the absence of real laughter and the overwhelming silliness makes any effort for self-parody ineffective. The tonal whiplash one gets from sighing comedic ineptitude to ridiculous romance is almost impossible to exaggerate.

Let us assume that Switch Up was simply a stupid eat-the-rich satire gone wrong, it would still be relatively innocuous. The portrayal of homelessness in this film’s narrative goes as far as being indefensible. It’s a poor excuse for a film that is filled with disrespectful, patronizing, and cringe-worthy moments that consist of clichés that should have been come across two decades ago. The weakest moment of the film shows Ricardo overhearing a homeless girl asking her ma whether they would sleep outside again because it was too cold the previous night. The mother gets his daughter a toy to comfort her and they both go to pray. Even on paper, it is a very disgustingly manipulative moment. In theory, it’s enough reason to stop watching the movie. One can only imagine the filmmakers patting themselves on the back for showing respect to the homeless people as if they are not playing the mockery of one of the most severe issues America has been battling against constantly.

Bizarrely, the romantic connection between Ricardo and Cassie is both the most developed aspect of the film and the least interesting: The argument that Cassie falls in love with Ricardo sounds ridiculous, but in reality, it wasn’t him who attracted her, so why did they fall in love. They share a bond and see something within themselves so aggressive that they overlook every possible reason why they should not be together.

Restrepo and de la Fuentes are praised for their hard work above, but there isn’t much on the page that adds to support their efforts. However, it is not hard to picture a less cynical world where Ricardo and Cassie manage to understand each other and, as a result, build a life together. Such possibilities never occur unfortunately and instead, we get unappealing plots and embarrassing conversations that demolish any fragments of chemistry the central pair manages to find.

Switch Up doesn’t work on any level, unfortunately. However, the failure of it is not a problem qua failure. But the problem is the way it appears, past or present, to exploit good intention, or good will, to absolve itself of this failure. There is an instinct to extend grace to a film that claims to be addressing such a serious issue as homelessness. But because of its tonal and narrative ineptness and patronizing and almost offensive representation of the crisis, Switch Up deserves no such grace. It seems unlikely that out of the entire cast and crew, there was not one individual who raised a red flag about this particular film. Such a high likelihood that no one did suggest care and cynicism that is quite horrifying.

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