Originally entitled The Baster, which succinctly sums up the intentions of this quirky romantic comedy, Josh Gordon and Will Speck’s film is a modern day story of parenthood with two significant stumbling blocks: there is no sexual chemistry between the lead actors and Allan Loeb forgot to impregnate his script with big laughs.

Jason Bateman is a gifted comic actor but his beleaguered hero is deeply unsympathetic.

He’s a misery guts and no fun to be around at all and once the character faces the repercussions of his actions, the subsequent emotional journey is too brief, culminating in an ultimatum for his love interest, played with customary ease by Jennifer Aniston.

On paper, the two stars are an unlikely couple.

On the big screen, they are completely mismatched and there is no compelling reason why their singletons should even conceivably end up sharing more than a restaurant bill.

Wally Mars (Bateman) loves his best friend Kassie Larson (Aniston) but cannot declare his true feelings for fear of losing her.

They have the kind of relationship where she talks bluntly about her cervix over dinner and he nods blankly.

He is shocked when she announces her plan to have a child with the help of a donor.

The lucky father-to-be, Roland (Patrick Wilson), is a charming blond Adonis and poor Wally drowns his sorrows, only to accidentally destroy the freshly produced pot of sperm.

He attempts to cover up his blunder by replenishing the sample and wakes the next morning with a crushing hangover and no recollection of his actions or why he is strangely drawn to images of esteemed TV journalist Diane Sawyer.

Seven years later, when Wally finally meets Kassie’s her son, Sebastian (Thomas Robinson), he notices familiar behavioural ticks and suddenly the memory of that fateful night comes flooding back.

‘I hijacked Kassie’s pregnancy,’ Wally tells his boss, Leonard (Jeff Goldblum).

‘Ah, that’s ill advised,’ he replies dryly.

So the lifelong bachelor has to make an agonising choice: tell Kassie and risk losing her or keep quiet and watch his son grow up from afar.

The Switch grinds through the narrative gears without any sense of urgency, separating the lead characters for seven years so that Sebastian can grow up and start exhibiting some tell tale signs of his true parentage.

Wilson is wasted in a thankless supporting role and doesn’t pose a realistic threat to scuppering that happy ending we know is coming from the opening frame.

Goldblum turns lacklustre lines into a giggle with his sarcastic delivery and Juliette Lewis is similarly impressive as the protective best friend, who doesn’t want Wally getting in the way of Kassie playing happy families.

Without them, Gordon and Speck’s picture would be a massive bore.

• Release Date: Wednesday 1 September 2010
• Certificate: 12A
• Runtime: 101mins