Leave it to Rob Scheider, who has appeared as a male prostitute and someone who took on traits of animals to now play a woman in a man's body. Maybe he was running out of lowbrow ideas to fuel what seems like a never-ending torrent of inferior movies. The Hot Chick is the latest Schneider (8 Crazy Nights, Mr. Deeds) and can probably live up to every single expectation that somebody would have for a film like this. The bright side is that it is a little less obnoxious than his other films. There is a little less toilet humor and the forced lessons learned feel a little more genuine than usual, but otherwise this is typical for Schneider, and cohort Sandler. Things here are set in motion by an ancient pair of magic earrings. Jessica (Rachel McAdams) is the popular, beautiful, stuck-up "it" girl that everybody hates. She switches bodies with Clive (Schneider), an all-around loser. When she wakes up in the morning, she finds herself in Clive's body, which leads to all sorts of unfunny predicaments.
The basic joke is watching Schneider act really effeminate. Watch him as he dresses up in women's clothing, fights like a woman, and speaks with a higher voice. People think this guy is gay! The cardinal sin that Schneider and co-writer and director Tom Brady make is that they make an unfunny comedy. Worse, The Hot Chick has a 'been there, done that' feeling to it. Sure there are some humorous moments, but they beat the jokes to death. This is yet another case of a skit stretched way beyond the point of any semblance of humor. Watching guys in drag is never that funny, so an entire movie of it becomes dull. Schneider also doesn't really have the charisma to pull off something like this. He obviously is willing to do whatever it takes to get a laugh, but at some point enough is enough.
That said, The Hot Chick is marginally better than Scheider's other efforts. It is one of those films that is so stupid that at times it does become moderately amusing, albeit sometimes in a morbid way. First, Jessica has to convince her best friend April (Anna Faris, Scary Movie 2, Scary Movie) that she is indeed April, and then they need to figure out some way to change things back. There are some bizarre subplots including a potentially sexually confused little brother and a burgeoning attraction that April has to Jessica. They feel out of place, and considerably more substantive than the rest of the movie, which centers on dumbness. Jessica needs to figure out a way to avoid her parents, help win the cheerleading competition and win back her boyfriend all the while in the body of a man. In order to redeem itself, there are lots of moral lessons for Jessica and her friends. Things about the wrongs of superficiality and the importance of acceptance. It all comes crashing together haphazardly in the end, but it's a short enough movie and boring enough that it quickly leaves one's mind.