Switching Channels

1988

Action / Comedy / Crime

17
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 32% · 15 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Spilled 32% · 1K ratings
IMDb Rating 5.9/10 10 4443 4.4K

ex-husband ex-wife relationship newscaster

Plot summary

A television news chief courts his anchorwoman ex-wife with an eleventh-hour story.

Director

Ted Kotcheff Photo
Ted Kotcheff

Top cast

Monica Parker Photo
Monica Parker as Jessica
Philip Akin Photo
Philip Akin as Guard
Jackie Richardson Photo
Jackie Richardson as Abigail
Fiona Reid Photo
Fiona Reid as Pamela Farbrother
720p.WEB 1080p.WEB
964.03 MB
1280*722
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 44 min
Seeds 3
1.75 GB
1908*1076
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 44 min
Seeds 8

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by fredrikgunerius 7 / 10

Burt Reynolds is in superb form

This remake of The Front Page (1931) and His Girl Friday (1940), based on Ben Hecht's 1928 play, boasts a charming trio of stars racing through one-liners and overblown news stories. The satire from the play is present, although it lacks the punch of its predecessors. Director Cotcheff serves up a light, breezy comedy with consistent charm and a busy plot. Kathleen Turner shines in the lead, while Burt Reynolds is in superb form, with his usual bubbly energy. Regardless of what you think of his acting, Reynolds' charisma and comedic timing can sometimes carry a film - as it does here. The political themes aren't especially relevant, and the ending is ridiculously silly, but the comedy hits the mark. And the romance, though predictable, is sweet - largely thanks to the chemistry between the two leads.
Reviewed by pmtelefon 5 / 10

Burt shines but the movie...

I'm a big fan of Burt Reynolds despite his hit-or-miss batting average. Burt Reynolds is a first ballot Hall of Famer. "Switching Channels" has a solid performance from Reynolds. This movie isn't the greatest but Reynolds does a really nice job. This fast talking, wise crack stuff is right up Burt's alley. Burt's supporting cast is likeable but whenever Burt's not on screen the movie dies. Unfortunately at one point, he's not on screen for about twenty minutes. The movie never recovers from that gap. I first saw this movie in the theaters (Movie World, Douglaston, NY). I've seen it quite a few times since. It's not my favorite but Burt is terrific in it.
Reviewed by SMK-4 6 / 10

Umpteenth version of the Front Page

This umpteenth version of the Front Page story made the quite appropriate adaptation from newspaper journalism to television.Although the character names have been changed we have no problems identifying the main characters of the Front Page. As in His Girl Friday, Hildy is played by a woman and Kathleen Turner was the ideal choice for this role at the time. Burt Reynolds takes on the Walter Burns character, but he neither has the charm of Cary Grant [His Girl Friday] nor the comic timing of Walter Matthau [Front Page, The (1974)] - but then, who has? The only serious miscasting is Christopher Reeve who just can't match the whimpish Ralph Bellamy.All in all it's not as good as the previous (excellent) versions, but it is still quite enjoyable. A story with that many remakes normally has a stinker amongst the lot, but this one has not (so far).
Read more IMDb reviews

3 Comments

Be the first to leave a comment