Good concept, poorly executed.

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

I'm not going to go as far as 10/10, but nonetheless, a very original, well crafted movie. It loses marks for kind of falling apart after about 45 mins, but still manages to resurrect a good ending. What annoys most is not the movie but the marketing. I'm sure this never came out in the cinema and its not widely available on DVD. Anyway, lets talk X Change. Stephen Baldwin and Kyle McLachlan. OK, not your household names but still good enough. This bloke swaps bodies, but not mind in order to travel quickly to some other place using a company called X Change. But something goes wrong, his real body is stolen by a known terrorist and he faces a fight for his life to get it back. One of the best movies in recent years but as I said, such a shame not many people have heard about it.

Xchange starts, & I quote, 'Tomorrow' in New York (complete with the Twin Towers...) where powerful businessman Eisner Scott (Scot Denton) is assassinated one night after dinner, it is thought that a terrorist organisation known as the 'NIA' was responsible. To smooth things over with the press Eisner's son Quayle (Charles Powell) calls in PR man Stewart Toffler (Kim Coates), unfortunately Quayle & the press conference is in San Francisco while Toffler is in New York so Toffler uses a process called Xchange where his consciousness is swapped with another person in San Francisco & thus swapping bodies too. Everything goes extremely well to start with & the press conference is a success but upon his return to be Xchanged back into his proper body Toffler (Kyle MacLachlan) discovers that his old body is now being used by terrorist named Fisk, as the company wants to keep the incident quiet Toffler is put under armed guard but manages to escape by Xchanging into a genetically engineered clone (Stephen Baldwin) that only lasts for 48 hours. Toffler contacts a friend named Madeleine Renard (Pascale Bussieres) a journalist who opposes the Xchange process, together they must locate Toffler's real body before time runs out...This Canadian produced film was directed by Allan Moyle & is an OK time waster but the whole thing feels empty & distinctly average. The script by Christopher Pelham is alright, the film reveals it's twists too early as by the half way mark you know pretty much everything. Not that it's difficult to guess where Xchange is going, in fact it's far too easy work out what's going to happen. The budget obviously wasn't high as although Xchange is meant to be set in the future everything looks exactly like it does now apart from the interiors of the Xchange building & some of the props & technology. The central idea is solid & makes for a decent story but I couldn't help feel I was watching some cheap shot-for-TV film with it's lacklustre production design, generally poor special effects, dull cinematography, music I can't even remember even though I only watched it a few hours ago, desperate has been actors & a complete lack of anything exciting. There are a few sex scenes here but even they can't save Xchange from being throughly average, the sort of film that you would put on but wouldn't mind pooping out to the kitchen to make dinner while it's on or reading a book at the same time, there's just something about Xchange that totally failed to grip or engage me in anyway. There are a couple of nice moments, like when Toffler's boss Xchange's bodies with his personal trainer so he can work out in his body while he sits back & relaxes. Director Moyle fails to inject any sort of pace, excitement or suspense into the proceedings which obviously doesn't help Xchange's entertainment value. Oh OK I'll say it, I didn't want to but I will, Xchange looks like a cheap X-Files (1993 - 2002) episode. There is a touch of violence with a severed finger & a couple of gunfights but nothing that would worry or impress anybody these days. The acting is pretty poor throughout, the bad guy is bland & dull & I just never felt anything for anyone. Xchange is not a great film but then it's not a really bad one either, it's a film which left me somewhat cold & indifferent. It's an OK way to pass 100 odd minutes if you have nothing better to do or watch but I doubt it will blow anyone's socks off. Xchange is average at best, bland nonsense at worst but usually stuck somewhere between the two.

In this film, humans are able to jump from body to body by means of a new form of technology. Why? Transport. Yes, it's a new means of transport; you swap bodies with someone at your destination, thus allowing you to get there instantly. Sounds ridiculous, and I cant think of a single reason why anyone would want to engage in this transaction, thus rendering this idea stupid; but, well, it's only a film. The movie follows the story of a corporate class man that must get to a meeting in a different town, and the only way to get there in time is to 'x-change'. Conversely, our hero is dead against the idea of x-changing so he initially refuses to do it. However, his boss drives a hard bargain, and after thirty seconds of relentless convincing; our hero is on his way to another man's body so he can attend the meeting! However, things aren't going to be that simple or we'd be in for a rather boring ride, so he unwittingly x-changes bodies with a terrorist that refuses to give his body back! Obviously, body stealing is a crime and therefore our guy can't simply stay in the body he's in, so he has to x-change with a clone. Don't you just hate it when that happens? However, it gets worse as clones only have a life span of approximately two days, so our hero must now race against time to stop the terrorists, sleep with as many women as possible and get his old body back! However, things are never that simple.... nah, just kidding; that's pretty much it.Going back to the film's central premise...it really is stupid. Imagine if people were really able to 'body swap'; we'd never know who's who. I mean, what if your wife swapped bodies with Salma Hayek? Sure, you might THINK that would be good, but would it be really? ...Yeah, it probably would. Seriously though, it would be chaos; you'd soon get people abusing the privilege, and there'd be anarchy before you could say 'what a silly idea', due to all the terrorists swapping bodies with politicians and things like that. The actual idea of body swapping isn't that bad, but it should have been portrayed in a more feasible way. The film is also one of those very convenient ones, where whatever tools the characters need just magically appear to be there, and the film quickly becomes predictable because of this. It also doesn't fully capitalise on the central idea; it depicts a man in someone else's body, yet we hardly ever see the two on screen. If it had made more of a meal our hero 'seeing himself', the film would have been infinitely better. You can tell that the writers started to run out of ideas after a while too, as the final third is packed with sex that doesn't really serve any relevance to the plot at all.It's a shame that this film isn't better as the idea could have built a really good film. It is hindered instantly by low production values, and the tired script and lack of invention don't do it any favours either. I would recommend watching this only if it's on and you have nothing else to do. Otherwise; you can afford to live your whole life without ever seeing this film.

X Change is pretty standard B grade cable TV sci fi but the mostly gratuitous sex scenes make a point of showing bare breasts in an aesthetically pleasing manner. Oh and there are some thoughtful ideas in the story as well.