In Family Switch, a rare cosmic event switches the bodies of a family. The experience teaches all of them a thing or two about each other. The movie is now streaming on Netflix.
Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers
Plot summary
It’s only three days until Christmas, and the Walker family, especially the kids, CC, Wyatt, and Baby Miles, are not exactly in the Christmas spirit, even though their parents, Bill and Jess, are doing their best. Bill and Jess wonder what happened to them. They are always at loggerheads with each other.
CC dreams of playing soccer for the national team one day, but it’s hard for her to pursue her dreams because of her mother, Jess, who she thinks is a control freak.
On the other hand, Wyatt is looking forward to a Yale interview, but his father, Bill, thinks he will be missing out on many things if he keeps running this fast.
Wyatt and CC hate that their parents want them to be like them. While visiting an exhibit to witness the quintuple planetary alignment, a rare cosmic event, the family argues about whether they can live each other’s lives near the telescope and wishes to see if they can do that.
Angelica, a fortune teller, saw earlier that the family needs to open their hearts and see through the lens of one another. She clicks a picture of them in front of the telescope.
The planetary alignment triggers a bright light that hits the family. They all fall down, along with the telescope that falls apart. The next day, they wake up to a strange discovery.
CC has switched bodies with her mother, Jess, and Wyatt has switched bodies with his father, Bill. At the same time, Baby Miles has switched bodies with the Walker family’s pet dog, Pickles. The flash that hit them fulfilled their wishes of living in each other’s bodies.
Every family member has a big event coming, and they don’t know how they are going to handle everything by being in each other’s bodies. The telescope will be fixed by the night. The family will have to improvise until then.
They drop Pickles and Miles at their neighbor’s, who is good with pets and claims that he is good with babies too, and get back to work.
Unfortunately, nothing works in their favor. CC ruins her mother’s meeting with a client, which could have made Jess a partner at the firm, after eating too much ice cream. Jess is lactose-intolerant, and CC struggles to hold her own during the meeting.
In turn, Jess performs badly at CC’s soccer game. She misses a goal to comfort an injured player from the opponent’s team. A scout for the national team attended the event, and it seems like Jess has failed to leave an impression on him for CC.
In the meantime, Bill, in Wyatt’s body, sits for the Yale interview. Wyatt is not sure that his father is going to do well here. On the brighter side, Wyatt does manage to learn that his crush, Ariana, is interested in hanging out with him while he is in his father’s body.
At the end of a terrible day, the Walkers go back to the planetarium and learn that the telescope is still missing a lens. Time is running out. The alignment only lasts one more day. It will appear next in 2162.
Angelica sees the family again and tells them that they need to fix what is broken. Wyatt remembers that a friend of his, Spock, can get them the lens that they need.
The family goes back home. After hearing that Wyatt has been invited to a party by Ariana and that he was hoping to have his body back to attend it, his parents decide to help him without asking him.
They attend this party, but Bill, who is in Wyatt’s body, rejects Ariana’s kiss. Back at home, Jess’ friends show up and wonder if Bill and Jess are going through a tough time.
Going missing at a time when they need each other doesn’t fit right with Wyatt and CC. Though being at a party brings Bill and Jess closer, it further ruins things between them and their kids.
Family Switch ending explained in detail:
Do the Walkers reconcile?
Jess has another chance with the client that she lost. This time, CC wants Jess to let her be herself. Hence, unlike Jess, CC plans to work with Jess’ colleagues as a team and deliver. At school, Jess sits for CC’s math final.
The two realize the lengths they have gone to for each other after stepping in each other’s shoes. Jess learns that CC has been working hard the whole semester and has made progress, just like she wanted.
CC finds out that her mother is working without any vacations to pay for her soccer camps and has ignored chances to get a promotion earlier just so that she can attend all of her games. When Jess comes back to her office, CC and Jess apologize to each other and reconcile.
Back at school, Bill and his band have a chance to make it big, as a TV crew from a rock show is coming to see them perform. Wyatt’s glossophobia is triggered. He runs and hides in a washroom.
He also overhears kids talking about how Bill was in a rock band that went on to become successful, but Bill quit the band to become a father. CC and Jess leave the meeting in Jess’ team’s hands after receiving a text from Bill saying that Wyatt is missing.
Bill finds Wyatt and assures him that being his father has been the rock ‘n’ roll adventure of his lifetime. The family comes together even though they know their dreams might not come true anytime soon.
Do the Walkers return to their original bodies?
Wyatt, with the support of his family, performs live for his father. After the performance, Wyatt’s friend, Spock, shows up with the lens. The Walkers run for the planetarium, as they only have 37 minutes left.
Though they arrive on time, the lens slips from their hands and breaks. Luckily, the original missing lens is found in Miles’ pocket. After fitting the lens onto the telescope, the family wishes to go back to their original bodies. It doesn’t work.
The Walkers accept their fate. Whatever happens next, they will get through it together. Angelica had said that all the family needed to do was fix what is broken. The next day, the Walkers wake up to find themselves back in their original bodies.
Do the dreams of the Walkers come true?
When they were at school, while the Walkers were hugging each other, Wyatt remembered what Bill used to say. When he is with them, he is not afraid. The rest of the Walker family joins Wyatt live during the performance.
The performance is so good that Bill and his band are invited to Hollywood. Jess’ client also attends the event. He is impressed by Jess’ team’s pitch. He gives her the project. At the same time, Jess’ boss also makes Jess a partner at the firm.
Later on, after returning to his original body, Wyatt is visited by Ariana. Yale messages Wyatt, saying that he is not quite ready. Wyatt isn’t sad. In the past couple of days, he has realized what is really important.
He intends not to miss out on the things he has here, including the time he will get to spend with Ariana. Wyatt and Ariana then share a kiss.
The representative from the national team visits the Walkers. They are willing to give CC another chance. They look for two things in a player: good soccer and good character.
They have already seen CC’s matches, but the other day she showed good character too by coming to an injured player’s aid instead of scoring for herself. This time around, Jess supports CC if soccer is what she wants to do. The two say yes to the representative.