Movie Type: Fantasy Comedy, Heaven-Can-Wait Fantasies
Themes: Trading Bodies, Fish Out of Water, Gender-Bending
Main Cast: Ellen Barkin, Jimmy Smits, JoBeth Williams, Lorraine Bracco, Perry King, Tony Roberts
Release Year: 1991
Country: US
Run Time: 104 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Ellen Barkin stars in this mystical comedy about a detestable male chauvinist temporarily reincarnated into the body of a woman. Steve Brooks (Perry King) foolishly accepts an invite for an evening of debauchery from three former girlfriends, and thinks he's got it made when he shows up to find them waiting for him in a hot tub. Eager to exact revenge on the scoundrel, the women proceed to drown him, and Steve is cast into a purgatory in which two unseen voices are deciding whether to send him to heaven or hell. Steve is given one chance to save himself from damnation -- if he can find a woman alive who actually liked him. To complicate his task and teach him a lesson, Steve is reincarnated as a sexy woman (Barkin), just the type who would have been the target of his cheesy advances. Sloppily adjusting to his new body, Steve (now Barkin) tells people he is the sister of the missing Steve Brooks, and begins working at his old advertising agency as a means toward completing his arduous task. As Steve's sister, he also enlists the help of his best friend, Walter (Jimmy Smits), despite the complication that Walter is noticeably attracted to the woman he has become. Steve's homophobia -- and several of his other hateful traits -- are put to the test. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
Review
Ellen Barkin was born to play a foul-mouthed lady killer whom everyone hates. Or, at least, that's the impression one gets from Blake Edwards' Switch, in which Barkin uncannily captures the swaggering insensitivity of a handsome jerk, making for a succession of funny scenes that keeps the film moving. She looks like she puts on her makeup with a trowel and brushes her hair with a rake -- appropriate for a reincarnated man who never paid attention to women's needs, so he should have no hope of knowing how to act like one. Barkin is raw, crass, and funny. Edwards' last successful comedy to date bears his usual screwball trademarks, and it is typically unsentimental until a pat ending that lets the former Steve Brooks off the hook too easily, and in too contrived a manner. Until right at the end, he doesn't markedly improve his behavior, even though he is purportedly learning lessons while seeing through the eyes of his former prey. His treatment of Lorraine Bracco's lesbian character is especially harsh and unresolved, such that it goes beyond mere characterization and hints at a deeper meanness embedded into the film. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
Lysette Anthony - Liz; Bruce Payne - Devil; Victoria Mahoney - Felicia; Basil Hoffman - Higgins; Catherine Keener - Steve's Secretary; Kevin Kilner - Dan Jones; Rick Aiello - Wiseguy at Duke's; Helena Apothaker - Gay Club Waitress; Michael Badalucco - Hard Hat; Greg Barnett - Thug at Duke's; Ross Brittain - Morning DJ; Jim J. Bullock - The Psychic; Dena Burton - Party Guest; Diana Chesney - Mrs. Wetherspoon; Patricia Clipper - Girl in Elevator; Robert Clotworthy - Bailiff; Linda Dona - Gay Club Patron; Robert Elias - Photographer; Lou Eppolito - Al the Guard; Joe Flood - Mac the Guard; Yvette Freeman - Mae the Maid; David Gale - Doctor; Linda Gary - God; Tony Genaro - Mental Patient; Teri Gold - F&B Model; Jay R. Goldenberg - Sardi's Maitre d'; James Harper - Lieutenant Laster; Ben Hartigan - Minister; Jessie Jones - Arnold's Secretary; John La Fayette - Sgt. Phillips; Tracy Lambert - Store Model; Mindy Lawson - F&B Model; Téa Leoni - Dream Girl; Lily Mariye - Nurse; Karen Medak - Saleswoman; Faith Minton - Nancy the Bouncer; Jacquelyn Rene Moen - Girl at City Grille; Virginia Morris - Assistant District Attorney; Marti Muller - Woman Client; Jennie Nauman - Party Guest; Kimberly Oja - F&B Model; Molly Okuneff - Little Girl; Dennis Paladino - Duke; F. William Parker - Barber; Richard Provost - God; Annette Quinn - Party Guest; Michelle Reese - Party Guest; Barbara Schillaci - Mental Patient; William Shockley - Party Guest; Alana Silvani - Girl at City Grille; Elena Statheros - Girl at Aiko's; Savant Tanney - Judge Harcrow; Robert Towers - Mental Patient; Emma Walton - Fur Protestor; David Wohl - Attorney Caldwell; Michelle Wong - Photo Assistant; Rebecca Wood - Gay Club Patron; Fred Lerner - Thug at Duke's; Lauren Lloyd; Taunie Vrenon - Store Model; Jim Lovelett - Jogger
Credit
Sandy Getzler - Art Director, Trish Caroselli Rintels - Associate Producer, Lauren Lloyd - Casting, Gail Levin - Casting, Ellen Mirojnick - Costume Designer, Blake Edwards - Director, Robert Pergament - Editor, Arnon Milchan - Executive Producer, Patrick Wachsberger - Executive Producer, Henry Mancini - Composer (Music Score), Rodger Maus - Production Designer, Dick Bush - Cinematographer, Alan Levine - Production Manager, Tony Adams - Producer, John Franco, Jr. - Set Designer, Joe Dunne - Stunts, Blake Edwards - Screenwriter, Stephen A. Hope - Music Editor, Kay Rose - Supervising Sound Editor
Steve Brooks (Perry King) is a notorious womanizer. One night, three women wronged by him lure him into a hot tub and murder him.
God gives Steve a chance to redeem himself by finding one woman who loves him for who he really is. Otherwise, he becomes the property of the Devil (Bruce Payne). However, the Devil suggests making it more difficult for Steve by forcing him to return as a woman—an idea embraced by God. Steve is thus sent back to Earth as a woman, Amanda Brooks (Ellen Barkin), and now must deal with all of the things women deal with on a daily basis: makeup, high heels, décolletage, and aggressive men just like him.
It takes a while for Steve/Amanda to get the hang of being female. She learns to sit with her legs closed and finds ways to cope with a woman's hair and wardrobe. Amanda must also convince Steve's best friend Walter (Jimmy Smits) that she is really Steve.
Meanwhile, the Devil has a bet to win so he pops suddenly from time to time, trying to tempt Amanda away from her soul-saving goal. Amanda desperately tries to find the one woman that loves Steve for who he is, but finds out every woman he has ever been with hates him. She even tries to get into a relationship with a lesbian (Lorraine Bracco) but finds that, as a woman, he is still unable to have an honest relationship with a woman.
During a drunken one-night stand, Walter ends up sleeping with Amanda. After being framed for Steve's murder (or her own murder), she is declared insane and institutionalized. While in jail, she finds out that she's pregnant.
The movie ends when Amanda gives birth to her daughter, thus finding the one female that loves her for who she truly is. She dies shortly afterwards, going to heaven (Then later, given the choice of being a male or female angel, which he/she is unable to decide).
Legacy
Although not a success at the box-office, Ellen Barkin was nominated for a Golden Globe for her role.
This film was indirectly referenced numerous times throughout the long-running series Mystery Science Theater 3000. In the original television spots for the film, Jimmy Smits' name was announced in an unusual way: "Ellen Barkin. Switch. Jimmy Smits. Starts Friday." The writers of MST3K found it amusing that Smits' name was announced after the title and not announced as "also starring Jimmy Smits" or "with Jimmy Smits", only as "Jimmy Smits".[1] Smits became a running gag on the series: in various episodes, a character of the show would say "Jimmy Smits" whenever the word "switch" was uttered or sometimes for seemingly no reason at all.
