Just posted this in the Movies You've Seen thread:
Your Name.: Amazingly, the "Freaky Friday with romance" premise behind this film is the least crazy thing that occurs in it, but even when it goes down the route that it does in its second half, I was rather impressed by how well they managed to keep you invested in our heroes. I think it really helped that the first half is as whimsical as it is, as they explore the high jinks one can get into when put into this situation (for a PG-rated film, there sure is a lot of self-groping!) while still feeling pretty innocent and throwing in some interesting relationship snags with the people in their respective lives as they get into the habit of doing things that are probably for their counterpart's own good. Once the film shifts gears as dramatically as it does, you find a lot of perspective and a newfound appreciation for how much they spent time on exploring the characters as the film raises the stakes, making you root for them to get over the near-insurmountable task that lies ahead of them. There are some dopey moments in the film that don't make much sense, particularly a strange moment as the twist finishes revealing itself that never gets brought up again and a somewhat unsatisfactory aspect to how the big problem is resolved that feels like a stretch to just leave it as it was, and it's probably about 10 minutes too long in its last half hour as one gets the sense that the director really wanted to ratchet up the uncertainty of how everything will resolve itself without coming up with a more efficient way. But for as egregious as those flaws seem in isolation, it really does say a lot about how well the emotional core of the film is handled that I was able to buy into its insane premise and twists and found myself highly entertained and kinda moved by how much I gave a crap about how these two. It also helps that the aesthetic qualities of the film are absolutely top-notch, and there is a generally great flow to the editing that manages to keep track of all the developments with crystal-like clarity while still being rather stylish. Throw that all together, and it's hard not to be won over by its sincerity and positive vibes.