Film

Turnabout

Turnabout is a 1940 Hal Roach screwball comedy, adapted from Thorne Smith's novel, about a squabbling married couple who wish themselves into each other's bodies and lives. It's fast, glib, and packed with of-its-era jokes about who really has the harder deal, husband or wife. Historically important as an early body-swap picture, though its gender politics feel dated next to its energy.

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy screwball comedy built on a clever premise and sharp dialogue, the kind where a fantastical gimmick is played straight and the marital squabbling gets funnier the longer it runs.

Skip it if you want fantasy with lavish effects or a fast-moving plot; this is a stagey, talky 1940 comedy that leans on its performances and its one outlandish conceit rather than on spectacle.

What it asks of you: Under ninety minutes, it asks you to sit back and listen, with the laughs arriving in conversation and reaction rather than in constant action or visual gags.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Freaky Friday2003

The gold standard modern swap comedy — Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis fully commit to the same trick Turnabout ran decades earlier: fix your family by literally becoming the other person.

But Aimed squarely at teens, so the domestic satire is thinner and the stakes are prom, not marriage.

Freaky Friday poster

Big1988

Tom Hanks turns a wish-granted swap into pure wonder rather than farce, proving the same magic-wish mechanic Turnabout used for bickering can carry warmth and heartbreak instead.

But It's an age swap, not a gender one, so the marital sparring you loved is entirely absent.

Big poster

Vice Versa1988

Judge Reinhold and Fred Savage trade father-son lives via a cursed skull, delivering the same fish-out-of-water panic Turnabout ran on, just with briefcases instead of housework.

But Very much an '80s studio comedy — broader and louder, with less interest in gender politics than the original.

Vice Versa poster

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Turnabout

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Your Name.2016

Both hinge on waking up as someone else and being forced to live their daily grind — Turnabout plays it for squabbling laughs, this plays the identical premise as fated, tearful romance.

Two teenagers swap bodies across distance and time in this gorgeous, aching anime — the same premise Turnabout mines for marital comedy, reused here for something devastatingly sincere.

But It's animated, subtitled, and plays the swap for heartbreak rather than laughs — no screwball banter to be found.

Your Name. poster
More like this (8)

18 Again!1988

George Burns swaps with his grandson and gets to be young and wisecracking again, riffing on the same be-careful-what-you-wish-for fantasy logic that powers Turnabout's premise.

But Slight and formulaic, coasting entirely on Burns's charm rather than any sharp idea about identity.

18 Again! poster

The Hot Chick2002

Rob Schneider as a teenage girl trapped in a grown man's body pushes the gender-swap discomfort Turnabout only hinted at to its most extreme, tasteless conclusion.

But Deliberately crude and juvenile — if you liked Turnabout's relative gentleness, this will feel like a slap.

The Hot Chick poster

Like Father Like Son1987

Dudley Moore and Kirk Cameron swap via a magic serum, and the film mines the same walk-in-their-shoes lesson about parents and children misreading each other completely.

But Formulaic teen-comedy plotting, with little of the wit that made the original's arguments actually sting.

Like Father Like Son poster

It's a Boy Girl Thing2006

Feuding teen neighbours wake up in each other's bodies, replaying Turnabout's central joke — that contempt for the opposite sex evaporates the moment you're stuck living inside it.

But A glossy teen rom-com with none of the era-specific bite; it's comfort food, not commentary.

It's a Boy Girl Thing poster

The Change-Up2011

Ryan Reynolds and Jason Bateman swap lives via magic fountain, asking the grown-up, R-rated version of Turnabout's question: is the other person's life actually easier than yours?

But Deliberately raunchy and profane, trading the original's charm for shock in a way that will put some off.

The Change-Up poster

Freaky2020

A slasher swaps a killer and his teenage victim, proving the body-swap engine can power horror just as easily as comedy, right down to a similar learn-to-love-your-life moral.

But Splashy, gory horror-comedy — if you came for domestic bickering, the chainsaw might come as a shock.

Freaky poster

Face/Off1997

Same premise stripped of comedy — what happens when you're forced to live as someone else — pushed from dinner-table squabbles to violent, life-or-death extremes.

John Woo takes 'trapped inside someone else's identity' and turns it into operatic gun-fu, with Travolta and Cage swapping faces and literally becoming each other's mortal enemy.

But Wildly over-the-top action cinema with zero interest in comedy or domestic life — a total tonal 180.

Face/Off poster

Wife Swap2004

It literalises Turnabout's central fantasy without the fantasy element — actual husbands and wives forced to live each other's domestic role, arguments and all.

Real families actually trade domestic lives for two weeks, no wish-granting statue required — and the culture-clash friction is often funnier and more revealing than any scripted version.

But Unscripted reality TV with real people's genuine conflict; the schadenfreude can feel a little mean rather than charming.

Wife Swap poster

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Recommended by

13 Going on 30, Freaky Friday, Big, Freaky Friday, The Swap