The comedy team of Dudley Moore and Kirk Cameron give this their all, but they come out on the short end of the stick with one of half-a-dozen films of the same theme that came out in the mid-to-late 1980's. This seemed had been already done going back to the 1930s, and with the success of "Big" in 1986, the theme was repeated with at least three other theatrical movies (and similarly structured stories), every Hollywood studio seemed to be ripping it off. But with some lacking originality, they made up in witty scripts, and unfortunately this one does not fall into that category.
As high school student Kirk Cameron gets grossed out over the dissecting of a frog, docto father Dudley Moore proves his success in an upscale Los Angeles Hospital. the drinking of some sort of Native American potion all of a sudden switches their personalities, putting Cameron's awkward teenager into serious doctor Moore's body, and vice versa. Now they have to live each other's lives, and while the possibilities of funny situations seems endless, that rarely ever happens in this misfire, the weakest of the lot of the same carried over plot.
As funny as Dudley Moore could be, it seems like he is simply just playing Arthur all over again, being a silly teenager rather than a foolish rich drunk. Cameron gets to show more range, but each of their situations have a sitcom feel, mostly undeveloped, and many of the supporting characters seem like cardboard cutouts. this seems like the type of film that knew of other Studios doing similar stories, and rushed it out to jump on the bandwagon without really getting together a great script. That weakens the impact, and ultimately, it just ain't that funny. Shots of late 1980's Los Angeles gave me some nostalgia, but that's not enough to make this memorable.
As high school student Kirk Cameron gets grossed out over the dissecting of a frog, docto father Dudley Moore proves his success in an upscale Los Angeles Hospital. the drinking of some sort of Native American potion all of a sudden switches their personalities, putting Cameron's awkward teenager into serious doctor Moore's body, and vice versa. Now they have to live each other's lives, and while the possibilities of funny situations seems endless, that rarely ever happens in this misfire, the weakest of the lot of the same carried over plot.
As funny as Dudley Moore could be, it seems like he is simply just playing Arthur all over again, being a silly teenager rather than a foolish rich drunk. Cameron gets to show more range, but each of their situations have a sitcom feel, mostly undeveloped, and many of the supporting characters seem like cardboard cutouts. this seems like the type of film that knew of other Studios doing similar stories, and rushed it out to jump on the bandwagon without really getting together a great script. That weakens the impact, and ultimately, it just ain't that funny. Shots of late 1980's Los Angeles gave me some nostalgia, but that's not enough to make this memorable.