Family Switch: McG Reveals the Body Swap Movies That Most Inspired Netflix Film

Body swap movies have been a staple of comedy for decades, and Netflix is once again going back to that tried-and-true well with the upcoming Family Switch. Directed by McG, Family Switch takes the body swap idea one step further, as all six members of the story’s main family switch bodies. Jennifer Garner and Ed Helms star as the parents, who both end up in the bodies of their teenage children after a holiday wish goes awry.

ComicBook.com spoke to McG ahead of the film’s debut later this week, and asked about the body swap films that served as inspiration for this new comedy. The filmmaker mentioned titles like Freaky Friday, 13 Going on 30, and The Change-Up as movies he drew from (and mentions outright in the film).

“The funny thing is, I started to reflect when I was thinking about doing this movie about all the different body switch movies and how could we contribute? I really like The Change-Up, with Ryan Reynolds and [Jason] Bateman. But I love [Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle], I consider Big a bit of a body switch movie. But Freaky Friday, 13 Going on 30, 17 Again, Vice Versa — it’s evergreen. And we thought, ‘Hey, what if we did a six-way switch?’ That could be kind of interesting to honor the audience, to keep their toes tapping, and then we cit it in the movie to make everybody realize we get it. There have been movies in this space and it’s okay to exhale and enjoy this one.”

What Is Family Switch About?

You can check out Netflix’s description of Family Switch below!

“Jess and Bill Walker are doing their best to keep their family connected as their children grow older, more independent, and more distant. When a chance encounter with an astrological reader causes the family to wake up to a full body switch, on the morning of the most important day of each of their lives, can the Walkers unite to land a promotion, college interview, record deal and soccer tryout? Jennifer Garner, Ed Helms, Emma Myers and Brady Noon star in this family comedy directed by McG and based on the book Bedtime For Mommy by Amy Krouse-Rosenthal.”

In addition to the four actors playing the main family members, Family Switch also stars Rita Moreno, Matthias Schweighöfer, Bashir Salahuddin, Fortune Feimster, Xosha Roquemore, Paul Scheer, and Pete Holmes.

“[The movie comes at a] moment in the world where we could certainly use a dose of that,” McG told EW earlier this year. “We hope that it’s surprising and light and more intelligent than you might think. I mean, my favorite way to make movies is to synthesize highbrow and lowbrow, where a kid could watch it and understand what’s going on, but a parent could watch it and ingest the material on a totally different, more sophisticated level, which is something I think Pixar does better than anybody, and I aspire to do that.”

Family Switch will debut on Netflix on Thursday, November 30th.