“This family looks like it could use a little Christmas magic.”

Despite its antics and its sheer volume, little about Family Switch rings out as a true holiday film, and this body swapping family comedy seems to use the Christmas spirit as yet another filter on top of all of the mundane madness carelessly littered throughout. It’s not a bad movie, but it’s perplexing and lethargic, and it feels like something that was written by an AI algorithm instead of a human hand. The decent looks and single genuine belly laugh can’t absolve or invigorate such an otherwise lifeless and hacky picture.

The playground patriarchic Bill (Ed Helms) emphatically tries to be a cool dad while his calm and collected wife Jess (Jennifer Garner) is often mocked for seeming robotic, even though she’s a successful higher up in her work place. Their daughter CC (Emma Myers) is an elite soccer player and their son Wyatt (Brady Noon) is a nervous nellie nerd. An opportunity for sole searching comes knocking from the seemingly fairy godmother Angelica (Rita Moreno), begging these family members to walk a mile in different shoes, and the souls of these people are challenged to fix what’s been so obviously broken between them. Unfortunately the emotions are half earned and the atmospheres are as fuzzy as loose felt.

It’s important to see things from a different vantage point, and while a few scenes in Family Switch channel authentic emotion, it’s hard to dispute the fact that this film unfolds as expected and to the tune of movies we’ve already seen. The drama here involves a bad college interview and an important soccer match, paired with a big business pitch and a bizarre live music performance, and things turn out as you’d imagine because happily ever after exists in this film. It can be hard to comprehend some of the movie’s choices though, especially an absolutely ridiculous dance sequence. Grown adults let loose with their kids at a high school party before it’s busted by cops for underage drinking, and even worse is that the moment felt forced, and it’s here where the writers don’t differentiate their work from the nauseating Yes Day, making Family Switch a clouded and clumsy mess that feels twice as long as it actually is.

So much of the strained drama and high stakes in Family Switch are untimely and unearned, and none of it is ever addressed without a nod or a wink or a lame joke. The performances are dedicated and often sell the lazy body switch circumstance well, and yet they don’t make up for an overlong movie that feels like a strange game of dress-up. Had it shown more focus, and had it been brave enough to be an updated Freaky Friday or 13 Going On 30, this film might have been aces. It’s an awkward, exaggerated, and loud night out as is. I won’t remember having watched it more than a month from now, nor should I.

“When did this family give up on Christmas?”

Rating: 2.5 out of 5