Date and Switch

Directed by Chris Nelson

(R)

**

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The teen-comedy genre has just taken a small step forward, said Elizabeth Weitzman in theNew York Daily News. When lifelong pals Michael and Matty vow to lose their virginity before prom in this “gently amusing” film, Matty makes a routine follow-through impossible by announcing that he’s gay. The premise yields nothing brilliant, but Date and Switch deserves credit for treating Matty’s coming-out matter-of-factly—as “one more rocky patch in the twisted road that is high school.” A series of “sometimes over-the-top” sequences follow in which Nicholas Braun’s Michael tries to help his buddy (Hunter Cope) find a same-sex true love, said Gary Goldstein in the Los Angeles Times. For all its mildly daring humor, though, the movie works best in its heartfelt moments. Even so, it oddly shortchanges Matty’s story, said Erik Adams in the A.V. Club. When we should be following how the central friendship has changed, we’re instead watching Michael’s attempts to woo a pretty girl. Date and Switch winds up being “a movie about being true to yourself that’s reluctant to let its real character show.”