cinematic roots of: ‘The Switch’

No movie springs from a vacuum. There are always influences from past examples of the genre, from the previous work of the filmmakers and stars, even from similar films that don’t quite work. If you want to understand where a movie is coming from, take a look at where it’s coming from.

In The Switch, Jennifer Aniston can’t believe she got Jason Bateman’s sperm in her baby, when someone else was supposed to be her artificial baby daddy. This flick sprang from (among other films):

• Mamma Mia! (2008), in which Meryl Streep isn’t sure who the father of her about-to-be-married daughter is, so she invites all the likely suspects to the wedding, just for fun.

• Look Who's Talking (1989), in which Kirstie Alley did not get pregnant by artificially insemination, she just tells everyone she was, because the truth is far more embarrassing.

• Rumor Has It... (2005), for more of Jennifer Aniston in a tricky conception mess: she learns that she may be the product of a Graduate-style hookup.

• Dear Frankie (2004), for more daddy confusion as single mom Emily Mortimer hires Gerard Butler to pretend to be her young son’s father, whom the boy has never met.