Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly reviews "The Switch."

When I heard about "The Switch," a romantic comedy starring Jennifer Aniston as a lonely New Yorker who gets pregnant on her own, I confess I had no desire to see it. I’d already seen Jennifer Lopez in "The Back-Up Plan," and frankly, one screwball sperm-donor chick flick per year seemed more than enough.

But "The Switch" is a pleasant surprise. It’s a by-the-numbers movie, but the dots that get connected feel fresh.

Aniston is at her most sexy and charming, but if anything, it's Jason Bateman’s movie. He plays Wally, the frowningly downbeat, way-too-sincere friend of Aniston’s Kassie, who of course is secretly in love with her.

At a party Kassie throws to celebrate her impending pregnancy, Wally, in a drunken haze, swaps his own sperm sample with that of the square-jawed dude that she’s chosen to be her donor. So when she shows up, seven years later, with her six-year-old boy Sebastian, even Wally has no idea that it’s really his son.

"The Switch" squeezes fresh laughs out of what is, in essence, a "nature trumps nurture" view of child development. Both Wally and Sebastian are neurotic, slightly gloomy and winningly smart in exactly the same way.

Thomas Robinson makes Sebastian not a brat exactly, yet he’s so discerning and fussy, about everything from Peking duck to indoor rock climbing, that he’s a chip off the old grouch.

"The Switch" ends up being a touching family comedy, even if its romantic-triangle plot is fairly standard issue.

Patrick Wilson, looking more than ever like Paul Newman, faces off against Bateman, who winds his way toward the big moment when he declares his feelings to Aniston. Fortunately, he’s not standing in the rain, or running after her at an airport.

So you can enjoy the movie without feeling too guilty the morning after.