Date and Switch (2014) Directed by Chris Nelson

This is a good, cute and fun enough little movie but yet, it still sort of misses its mark.

It's nice to see how this is a movie that's about homosexuality and features a gay main character, without treating it like it's a big deal. It's basically just like any other teenage comedy, dealing with typical teenage issues and features the same sort of comedy as most other, generic, high school comedies. But I feel and believe that this is both a strength and weakness of this movie.

I mean, this obviously is a pro-gay movie and all but should gay people be happy with this movie as well? Because it treats everything almost as a non-issue and doesn't really show any of the true struggles and emotions a real person would go through at that age, when coming out of the closet to your friends and parents, it does kind of feel like a flat movie, with all of its homosexuality related themes. I doubt that this movie is going to help any youngsters out there, who are still struggling with their sexuality or those who are still in doubt whether to come out or not. You can say that this simply isn't the type of movie to do that and it's more one that's simply trying to bring some lighthearted entertainment but it's nevertheless kind of weird- and maybe even somewhat offensive to real life gay teenagers, to see how this movie is glossing over a whole bunch of stuff and deals with everything in a comical way.

I'm sure that this movie was made with the best of intentions but it ultimately doesn't feel like a very relevant or very revolutionary movie. If you truly want to become critical and serious about things, it's even a bit of an offensive movie for gay people out there, with some of the things this movie is doing and directions the story is taking at times, with some of its characters and themes.

But really, why should you take the movie so seriously? It is what it is and it may not be a terribly creative, clever or revolutionary movie, it's still a pretty entertaining one.

The comedy is pretty good and all of the main characters are some real likable ones, played by some pretty decent actors. Also definitely good to note that the homosexual characters in this movie aren't the usual typical flaming homosexuals that Hollywood normally loves to put in movies. They are portrait as average, every day, guys instead, as it should be of course. In that regard this movie still feels like a step forward for the portrayal- and treatment of homosexual characters in movies.

Still disappointing to see what this movie is doing with its story and characters at times. It makes some bad decisions, that in the long run don't add much to the story and more often than not helps to turn this movie into a too formulaic and very predictable one as well.

The movie also doesn't always have the best flow and build up to it. The fact that this movie often glosses over a bunch of stuff has a lot to do with its build up. Some things never get properly developed, such as the relationship between all of the many different characters. Some of the characters in general feel underdeveloped as well. Also nothing about the movie ever feels very realistic, which definitely goes at the expense of its potential and messages, despite all of its good intentions.

In other words, it's a far from great movie or very effective movie but it definitely still remains a cute and fun enough one to watch.

6/10

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