Fluentiama
Perfect cast and a good story
Maleeha Vincent
It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.
Deanna
There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.
missyoda05
With an original plot and humorous story Dating the Enemy is a romantic comedy with a feel-good nature that will lighten your heart. Do opposites really attract? As a couple struggle with their relationship and mysteriously swap bodies they learn what its like for the other. The film devotes itself to unique differences between the couple and men and women in general. Megan Simpson Huberman captures the comical side of each situation with great precision. She encourages the viewer to have emotions for each circumstance. A thought provoking and witty film that will have you laughing from start to finish. It may even leave you feeling grateful you are the sex you are.
impressions70
Ever wonder what's wrong with Australian cinema?This writer/director now works for the government bureaucratic churn mill, making decisions based on base and formulaic aesthetic -- it's clear from watching this piece of uninspiring rubbish that arbitrary structure and plot are more important to her than the things which really make for compelling cinema. The performances (thanks to Guy Pearce) are not completely awful -- although the script (taken directly to the slightly better but still average "Switch") is parochial in its sensibility with expositional dialog, uncinematic treatment of space and temporal reality and a trite sense of resolution. Better still, has anybody outside the Australian film industry ever heard of this dreary number?
ethereal_tb
I first saw "Dating the Enemy" at a film festival 4 years ago that was showing Aussie films that had never been released in the US. I must admit, I rolled my eyes when I first heard the plot of "Dating the Enemy" but decided it was worth a look to see Guy Pearce in something else besides "Priscilla" and "L.A. Confidential" which were the only films I'd seen him in at the time.Imagine my surprise at this films funny, clever and original way of examining the strangeness/complexity of relationships between men and women in this modern world. Yes, the plot device of how/why they switch bodies is a bit clumsy, but that can be forgiven, because once this film gets into full swing, it's a hilarious romp and the best by far "body switching" movie I've ever seen. It goes places where a Hollywood movie would never go. I think my fav scene by far is Brett as Tash having sex with his friend and finding out how BAD men can be in bed! Oh, and getting his period....!! As a woman audience member, you can't help saying, "Ah, HA!! See?!" What I also love about this movie, is that the changes that both characters go through are more convincing and realistic than in any other "body switching" movie I've seen. It is especially nice to see Tash come out of her shell after having lived Brett's life. This movie goes beyond the plot gimic in many of these ways. I wait impatiently for it to be released on VHS or DVD here in the US.I can't go without commenting on the actors. This is the most charming and ironically NORMAL character I've ever seen Guy Pearce play, and I'd love to see him do more parts like this. Also, I instantly became a huge fan of Claudia Karvan. I selfishly wish she were in more projects that come stateside, because I'd love to see more of her. Hopefully she won't be cut out of the Star Wars movie again! :)In short, in spite of some of the minor problems with this film, it is a wonderful film overall, and if you can overlook it's faults, you will fully enjoy it.
Bede
Ten minutes into this one, and I had had enough. Half an hour in, my wife and I were in stitches. The joke - it is a one-joke film, and so what - is that somehow, magically, the two estranged lovers exchange bodies. Each has to cope with the other's job and the demands on the opposite sex, and, of course, each develops a new understanding and appreciation of the other. There are predictable situations (his first experience of PMT, her first erection, their first sexual experiences in their new bodies, difficulties with how to treat work colleagues), but they are funny, and exceptionally well acted. Guy Pearce ("LA Confidential") as a woman with a man's body, minces as he did in "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert", and his opposite number, Claudia Karvan, catches assertive male body language beautifully. At times, the joke seems a little over-extended, but it is good-hearted and good fun.
