‘The Change-Up’: Ryan Reynolds, Jason Bateman mix it up

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Ryan Reynolds and Jason Bateman switched on the charm at Monday’s premiere of ‘The Change-Up,’ their upcoming take on one of Hollywood’s classic genres: the body-switching comedy. In the tradition of ‘Freaky Friday’ or even ’13 Going on 30,’ Reynolds and Bateman hit theaters Friday as two buddies who trade lives.

‘The Change-Up’ has Bateman playing a family man who puts in long hours at a law firm and comes home to change dirty diapers, and Reynolds cast as a slacker playboy who picks up women at Lamaze classes. In a totally believable turn of events, the two wish for each other’s life -- while urinating in a fountain, no less -- and presto, change-o, bodies and lives are swapped.

Photos: ‘The Change-Up’ premiere

When it came to learning one another’s tics and mannerisms to sell the switch, Reynolds said of costar Bateman, ‘I got a few of the mannerisms down ... the slow-burn eyebrow raise that he does.’

Bateman, however, said he and Reynolds were careful not to ‘do impressions of one another.’

‘Because we’re not that talented, really,’ he joked. ‘So we just tried to play our versions of an idiot and a straight guy. It was easy. The script was so funny, we didn’t want to distract from that by trying to do impersonations.’

Talk about distracting: The two would later be joined on the red carpet by Sandra Bullock, Reynolds’ costar in ‘The Proposal,’ who turned up to support her friend’s most recent summer effort.

Olivia Wilde -- cast as a tempting love interest in the movie -- said she thinks audiences love goofy body-switching films because ‘it’s a fantasy most people have had.’

‘The thing about body switching is the stakes are inevitably always really high, because you’re gonna find yourself in awkward situations, and that’s what people like to watch -- or what I like to watch, at least,’ she said, smiling.

Meanwhile, Leslie Mann -- real-life wife of Judd Apatow and onscreen wife of Bateman’s ‘Change-Up’ character -- was rather distressed over having to miss the ‘The Bachelorette’ finale for the sake of the red carpet.

But if Mann had the opportunity to switch bodies with anyone, who might that be?

‘Ryan Gosling’s girlfriend,’ she said.

Amen, sista.

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-- Amy Kaufman
twitter.com/AmyKinLA