The Switch is intent on ignoring star Jennifer Aniston. The story involves Kassie Larson (Aniston), a thirtysomething single woman who decides to have a baby via artificial insemination. Her best friend Wally (Jason Bateman), who is opposed to the idea, gets drunk one night, accidentally spills the donated sperm sample in her bathroom and decides to replace it with his own contribution – all without telling her. Sounds like this should be Kassie’s story, no? Wrong. Right from the start, with its tritely philosophical voiceover narration from Wally, The Switch focuses on the dull and unlikable male character — a passive-aggressive stalker who follows Kassie to parties, sulks in the corner and then yanks her away whenever she’s approached by another man. Not only are the primary plot elements here inherently female — pregnancy, single motherhood — Kassie is an infinitely more interesting character. When she has a baby boy and decides to move to Minnesota to raise him, I desperately wished the movie would go along. But instead we’re stuck in New York City with the mopey Wally. The reasons are fairly obvious: Hollywood is still run by men, most movie tickets are purchased by men and even though this film has two directors, they’re both – you guessed it – men. As is the screenwriter.
