The Top 10 Best Body Swap Movies
Things Get Crazy in these Body Swap Movies!
Ever have one of those days where you wish you could just be someone else? Well, that might not be possible, but luckily there are plenty of body swap movies out there to let you live out your dream vicariously through the characters on screen. This week, Stars & Popcorn is tackling that fantasy by counting down the best body swap movies of all time. In order to be included on this list, a movie has to feature people either swapping bodies or a character undergoing a sudden and relatively unplanned body transformation (no slow, drawn-out ones like in The Fly). It might be a gimmick, but the body swap movies that made this list are no joke. So, next time you wish you could be anyone else in the world, check out one of these films. Hopefully, they’ll scratch that itch of yours, but if not you’ll at least get a chance to check out a pretty good movie either way.
10. The Change-Up
Look, I know that The Change-Up isn’t exactly a cinematic masterpiece, but there’s aren’t a ton of body swap movies out there. Plus, I’ve got a soft spot for any movie with Ryan Reynolds in it. Man crush aside, The Change-Up isn’t that bad of a movie. It follows two best friends (Reynolds and Jason Bateman) who magically swap bodies while peeing in a fountain. The two wake up to very different lives than the ones they’re used to and are forced to navigate them with hilarious results. Bateman and Reynolds actually manage to do pretty decent impressions of each other and that goes a long way in selling the core concept of this film. It’s not a spectacular movie but with low enough expectations and enough beer, it’s pretty funny.
9. 17 Again
It’s strangely appropriate that Matthew Perry and Zac Efron were cast opposite each other in 17 Again. Perry was on his way down as his popularity from the late 90s started to dwindle and Efron’s career was just starting to take off. The film goes against the trope we see in so many body swap movies where a kid wakes up as an adult (there are a few of those on this list). Instead, a man gets to relive his high school glory days when he wakes up as a teenager again. Of course, being a teenager isn’t quite as easy as he remembered it being, especially given that he has no idea what’s popular these days. Then again, when you’re as good looking as Zac Efron, it doesn’t take much to become one of the cool kids.
8. Freaky Friday (2003)
Before Lindsay Lohan was a hot mess, she was a teenage heartthrob (one that I definitely had a crush on growing up). Alas, those days have long since passed, but that doesn’t negate the fact that she was in one of the better body swap movies out there. She stars alongside Jamie Lee Curtis as a mother-daughter duo who inadvertently swap bodies in the middle of an argument. Forced to see life through each other’s eyes the two try not to screw up the other’s life too much as they attempt to get back to normal. As the film goes on, they learn to appreciate the other after seeing just how difficult their respected lives are. Personally, I think therapy would have been easier, but it’s not nearly as cinematic (unless it takes place in an asylum).
7. 13 Going On 30
This Jennifer Garner film takes more than a little inspiration from the number one movie on this list. The film follows a little girl fed up with being treated like a child and humiliated by her classmates. She makes a birthday wish to be older. The next morning she wakes up as a (nearly) 30-year-old Garner where she quickly learns that it’s not that easy being an adult. Trying to fit in and be cool only makes things worse for her until she learns that the best thing is to just be herself. Once she does, everything starts to come together for her. It’s a campy movie overall, but it’s one that teaches a valuable lesson to kids about accepting who they are. It’s a pretty good flick but doesn’t quite stand up to the film it’s inspired by.
6. Heaven Can Wait (1978)
People seem to think there’s infallibility that comes with the divine. For them, I present Heaven Can Wait. Now, most of these body swap movies feature characters that manage to find their way back to their original body, but not this one. A near-death experience for a football star (Warren Beatty) when an angel screws up and ushers him into the afterlife. Unfortunately, once the error is realized his original body has already been cremated. Fortunately, the new body he’s given is a far cry from what he’s used to and ends up an elderly millionaire whose wife is trying to kill him. The former football star has to struggle to adapt to a whole new life while trying not to die (again). This is definitely one of the better body swap movies out there.