Family Switch: Jennifer Garner returns to the body-swapping genre with Ed Helms in a McG comedy

Jennifer Garner delighted audiences with her contribution to the body-swapping movie world, 13 Going On 30, which was her own version of Big. The former Alias actress will be making a grand return to this particular sub-genre with the upcoming Netflix comedy Family Switch. McG, known for the first Charlie’s Angels films and Terminator: Salvation, will be helming the family-friendly film. Garner is joined by The Office and The Hangover star Ed Helms, as well as one of the breakout stars of Wednesday, Emma Myers. Entertainment Weekly has the exclusive first look with pictures from the film as well as a few comments from McG.

The film details, according to Entertainment Weekly, reads, “Premiering Nov. 30, Family Switch follows Jess (Garner) and Bill Walker (Ed Helms), parents doing their best to keep their family connected as their children, daughter CC (Myers) and son Wyatt (Brady Noon), grow older, more independent, and distant. A chance encounter with an astrological reader (Rita Moreno) at Los Angeles’ cosmic Griffith Observatory causes the Walkers to wake up the next morning to a body swap with each other — even down to one between baby brother Miles and the family dog.”

McG, knowing that Garner is a veteran of this type of film, is paying his respects by including some meta nods to her former effort. The director shares with Entertainment Weekly, “We overtly mention 13 Going on 30. There’s a meta sort of runner in the movie because I like showing the audience that kind of respect. We get it, we get it.” The article, then, hints that it is expected to see a new generation of 13 Going On 30‘s girl group of bullies. The film, while a twist on a familiar story, is based on the 2010 children’s book Bedtime for Mommy by the late Amy Krouse Rosenthal. The Netflix film also stars Xosha Roquemore, Fortune Feimster, Bashir Salahuddin, Matthias Schweighöfer, Paul Scheer, and Pete Holmes.

McG felt it was important that the comedy emulated a great feeling of empathy, which he wanted to come at a “moment in the world where we could certainly use a dose of that.” The director continued, “We hope that it’s surprising and light and more intelligent than you might think. I mean, my favorite way to make movies is to synthesize highbrow and lowbrow, where a kid could watch it and understand what’s going on, but a parent could watch it and ingest the material on a totally different, more sophisticated level, which is something I think Pixar does better than anybody, and I aspire to do that.”

Family Switch swaps onto Netflix on November 30.