3488. The Hot Chick (2002)

Starring: Rob Schneider, Rachel McAdams, Anna Faris

Director: Tom Brady

Running Time: 104 mins

The Hot Chick is an American film about a teenage girl whose body is swapped with a criminal she briefly encountered, leaving her stuck as a middle-aged man in the lead-up to a big cheerleading contest.

Made by the people who later brought you the likes of Paul Blart: Mall Cop, Grown Ups and (shudder) Jack And Jill, you wouldn’t expect The Hot Chick to be one of the best comedies out there. However, while it’s not exactly the smartest movie ever made, it is a lot of fun, and surprisingly even a rather sweet watch.

The premise is fairly simple, it’s a body swap movie between a mean high school girl and a criminal middle-aged man. You’ve seen body swap movies before, but The Hot Chick is a little different from the typical Freaky Friday formula.

Rather than bringing the two together in trying to resolve their situation by understanding what it’s like to live in someone else’s shoes, The Hot Chick follows Rob Schneider playing the teenage girl formerly appearing as Rachel McAdams, as she has to come to terms with living as a middle-aged man.

Admittedly, that takes away some of the deeper emotional implications of the body swap, but Schneider’s surprisingly likable performance, coupled with his surprising chemistry with the character’s teenage friends, makes the film turn into a surprisingly sweet comedy.

The humour itself is simple enough throughout, heavily focused on slapstick and a few moments of gross-out comedy, but it’s the underlying heart of the movie that actually makes it a lot of fun to watch, never being overly gratuitous with its fantasy premise, and instead telling a genuinely captivating story about being yourself, no matter what you look like.

It’s fair enough to say that The Hot Chick is a little weird in places, and there are a few moments where Rob Schneider’s appearance is a little uncomfortable even with the body-swap context, but the fact remains that this is a thoroughly enjoyable, light-hearted affair from start to finish, and that’s why I’m giving it a 7.3 overall.