Vice Versa (1988 film)

Vice Versa is a 1988 comedy film starring Judge Reinhold and Fred Savage. It is the fourth screen adaptation of the 1882 novel of the same name by F. Anstey. Three previous adaptations were released in the UK in 1916, 1937 and 1948.

Preceded in 1987 by Like Father Like Son, it was released three months before a similar age-changing '80s comedy, Big, which eclipsed both films' success.

Heavy metal band Malice makes a small appearance in the film.

Plot
In Thailand, a group of smugglers steal an ancient skull from a Buddhist monastery.

Marshall Seymour (Judge Reinhold) is Vice President of a Chicago department store in charge of buying. He is divorced and has a son named Charlie (Fred Savage) whom he has no time for. He returns from a trip to Thailand and finds he has accidentally acquired a strange ornamental skull. A pair of thieves should have the skull, but it was accidentally swapped during their flights, and an arrangement has been made to swap back.

Marshall takes Charlie for a few days while his mother, Robyn, and step father are vacationing. Tensions run high in this family since Charlie can't understand why his father can't be more involved in his life. They get into an argument about how they wish they could be in each other's bodies. It is revealed that the skull possesses magical powers, and after they both express a wish and touch the skull, Charlie grows up into his father's body, and Marshall shrinks into his son's body. After the initial shock, they each realize they must live out their lives as each other, and Marshall heads off to school to deal with tests, bullies and hockey practice, while Charlie resumes his role as a Vice President from an 11-year-old's viewpoint.

After failing to get back the skull by asking nicely, the thieves embark on mission to steal it, and end up kidnapping Marshall as ransom. During this time, Marshall explains to them that he is not himself, and his father is not himself, that they have switched, due to the skull. Turk, the male thief, seriously considers what Marshall is saying, but Tina is just concerned about getting the skull back so they can be rich. Eventually they get the skull, and Marshall is returned. However Marshall and Charlie rush to reacquire the skull so they themselves can switch back. The last we see them, the two have touched the skull and change genders right as Charlie steals the skull back from them, leaving them in each other's bodies as punishment.

In the end, Marshall and Charlie switch back once they realize how they did it in the first place.

Cast

 * Judge Reinhold as Marshall Seymour / Charlie Seymour
 * Fred Savage as Charlie Seymour / Marshall Seymour
 * Corinne Bohrer as Sam
 * Swoosie Kurtz as Tina Brooks / Turk
 * David Proval as Turk / Tina Brooks
 * Jane Kaczmarek as Robyn Seymour
 * William Prince as Stratford Avery
 * Gloria Gifford as Marcie
 * Beverly Archer as Jane Luttrell
 * Harry Murphy as Larry
 * Kevin O'Rourke as Brad
 * Richard Kind as Floyd
 * Elya Baskin as Professor Kerschner
 * James Hong as Kwo
 * Ajay Naidu as Dale Ferriera
 * Jane Lynch as Ms. Lindstrom

Critical and box office reaction
The film received mixed reviews,  and flopped at the box-office. The film was given a score of 43% on Rotten Tomatoes. It grossed $13,664,060 in the USA on its theatrical run.

In popular culture
The film was mentioned in an episode of Clerks: The Animated Series by Randal Graves as an attempted bribery of being Dante Hicks' lawyer by telling the "honorable" Judge Reinhold that he [Randal] has seen all of his movies including Zandalee and Vice Versa. In an episode of Community, Troy and Abed plan a day of watching Freaky Friday (film) and all other movies with the same basic premise, including Vice Versa, the DVD of which Abed immediately throws away.