They say that before you judge someone you should walk a mile in their shoes, and that’s exactly what the Walkers are going to do. In the new Netflix comedy Family Switch, the four members of the Walker family find themselves in a classically inconvenient Freaky Friday-style body swap, courtesy of an ill-timed visit to an astrological observatory. Suddenly, father and son, mother and daughter, baby and dog — all find themselves in each other’s bodies and lives, with all the mayhem that entails. In order to get back into their bodies, parents and children will have to learn to truly relate to and understand one another. Not an easy task, especially on a busy day full of college interviews, soccer tryouts and other life-changing events.
Family Switch joins a long line of body-swap comedies (and shouts them out, with a wink). “I thought to myself, there are excellent films in this space and there are films that aren't quite as good, but I enjoy them all,” director McG (The Babysitter, Rim of the World, The Babysitter: Killer Queen) tells Tudum. “At the end of the day, it's really about empathy.” Check out the trailer above, and find out more information about this very memorable Walker family outing below.
When a family switches bodies with each other during a rare planetary alignment, their hilarious journey to find their way back to normal will bring them closer together than they ever thought possible.
If that sounds messy for the Walkers, it was often just as confounding for the filmmakers. “You really have to map out what the arc of the son is, what the arc of the daughter is, what Mom is going through, what Dad is going through,” McG says. “So that was fun and confusing and kept us all on our toes.”
Family Switch is now streaming on Netflix. Make it a double feature with Garner’s original body-swap movie, 13 Going on 30.
Garner is no stranger to body-swap comedy; back in 2004’s 13 Going on 30, she played an adult version of her adolescent self (she later reunited with her costar Mark Ruffalo in The Adam Project). Here Garner plays Walker family matriarch Jess, who wakes up one morning as her daughter CC instead.
“Jennifer Garner is as advertised,” McG says. “She really sets the tone on set and allows everybody to have fun and feel safe and go for it and be their best on screen.”
Juno, Dallas Buyers Club, Daredevil, Pearl Harbor, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, Love, Simon
Helms plays Bill Walker: high school music teacher, dad to CC and Wyatt, husband to Jess, and frontman of dad rock band Dad or Alive. That all changes when the Hangover star finds himself body-swapped with his son — and learning some valuable lessons about his family.
“We always had our eyes on Ed Helms,” McG says. “He's just such a great everyman that has so much more going on than you would immediately think. He's my favorite example of clicking on all cylinders where there's the funny top line, but then there's the undercurrent of intelligence going on underneath.”
The Hangover trilogy, Tag, Vacation, They Came Together, We’re the Millers, The Office, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
The Walkers’ daughter, CC is a rising soccer star getting ready to head off to college. Her adolescent clashes with her mother come to a head when the pair find themselves living in each other’s bodies, and maybe finding some middle ground along the way.
“What Emma got up to in Wednesday's amazing,” McG says. “It just set the world on fire. She came in there and did her thing and played opposite Jen beautifully.”
Southern Gospel, Girl in the Basement
Tech-loving Walker progeny Wyatt is undeniably brilliant, but like any other smart kid he struggles with school bullies and unattainable crushes. Maybe his dad (in his body) can lend a hand?
“When I saw him do ‘I Want to Know What Love Is’ in Good Boys, I lost my mind,” McG remembers. “I said, ‘It's got to be him.’”
Good Boys, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, Boardwalk Empire, The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers
Angelica is the mysterious figure who facilitates the Walkers’ body-swap shenanigans. She’s played by the legendary Rita Moreno. No shade to the other members of the Family Switch cast, but Moreno is the only one who’s won an EGOT (Emmy. Grammy, Oscar, Tony).
West Side Story (1961), West Side Story (2021), Singin’ in the Rain, The King and I, Slums of Beverly Hills, Oz, Princess Power, Rita Moreno: Just A Girl Who Decided to Go For It, Still Laugh-In: The Stars Celebrate
Rolf is the Walkers’ next-door neighbor, a dog trainer who finds himself perplexed by the human-like behavior of the family’s pet — and the canine-like behavior of their baby. What could have happened there?
Oppenheimer, Valkyrie, The Swimmers
Alongside the main cast members, Family Switch also stars Lincoln and Theodore Sykes as baby Miles, Bashir Salahuddin, Ilia Isorelýs Paulino, Fortune Feimster, Xosha Roquemore, Paul Scheer, Andrew Bachelor, Pete Holmes, Naomi Ekperigin, Dan Finnerty, Cyrus Arnold, and Vanessa Carrasco.
And of course, pooch thespian Oliver is Pickles, the family dog. “That dog was a more disciplined and astute thespian than a great many actors I've worked with in the past,” McG says. “Just hitting the marks, being taught on the spot, filling the set with unbelievably pungent gas, all of it.”
