The Swap (2016 film)


The Swap is a 2016 American television teen film that premiered on Disney Channel as a part of the network's annual "Monstober" event on October 7, 2016. The film is based on the young adult novel of the same name written by Megan Shull and is written by Charlie Shahnaian and Shari Simpson and directed by Jay Karas. The movie stars Peyton List and Jacob Bertrand.

Plot

High school sophomores Jack Malloy and Ellie O’Brien are both going through hard times. Jack’s mother has recently died, leaving him with his roughhousing older brothers and cold, seemingly heartless dad, who puts pressure on his sons to be macho men, all fighting, no crying. Ellie’s own dad has walked out on her and her “helicopter” mom, and her best friend since kindergarten, Sassy, has started ignoring her in favor of the more feminine yet nastier new girl, Aspen. Both have big sports events coming up over the weekend. Jack is trying out for the varsity hockey team, but has to deal with the bullying Porter who has always lost the last spot on varsity to one of Jack’s brothers. Ellie’s rhythmic gymnastics team has to win big at the upcoming tournament, eke budgets cuts at school will have them demoted from “team” to “club”.
On Friday, they both end up in the nurse’s office, after Jack is hurt in a scuffle with Porter, and Ellie starts crying after hearing Aspen say mean things about her to Sassy behind her back. They start fighting, with Ellie saying boys have it better than girls without having to deal with friend drama, and Jack saying girls have it easier because they can be as emotional as they want. The tired nurse gets them to continue their fighting via text, and they text each other saying how they wished they had each other lives. Suddenly, magic lightning strikes and knocks them out, and when they get up, they realize they swapped bodies. Ellie remembers something her mom said about how “investing too much emotional energy into an object gives it power over you.” In this case, their respective cell phones, which they cherished because each had once belonged to their now absent parent, had the power to grant their texted wish. After failing to swap back, they decide to look for a book belonging to Ellie’s mom to reverse the spell. But they find out their time is limited when it’s revealed that Ellie’s dad will be canceling their family phone plan, effective on Sunday.

Cast

During its premiere in the 8:00 PM time slot, The Swap attracted a total of 2.64 million viewers with a 0.48 rating for people aged 18–49.