Being John Malkovich meets Bodies Bodies Bodies in this sci-fi/comedy about an awful group of friends who swap bodies because they don’t have brains.

2024 Netflix movie It’s What’s Inside has an interesting body-swap premise, but Greg Jardin’s directing, editing and story are a total mess. Even the apostrophe-ridden title is needlessly convoluted. Basically one of the friends (David Thompson) brings a machine to a party that enables everyone to swap bodies for a laugh. But body-swap comedy only works if the characters have different personalities. These Gen Zers are all shallow, rich, straight and good-looking, creating instant confusion when they swap, not least because we never knew who they were in the first place.

Rather than use the sci-fi device to explore any social, cultural or philosophical ideas, the characters simply use the opportunity to cheat or spy on their partners (this magical machine conveniently mostly swaps bodies of the same sex). Not only is this the least interesting thing they could have done with the concept, it makes it impossible to care about any of these social media-obsessed characters who jump at the chance to betray all their friends. They should have called it Facebook/Off.

The film also invokes the clever 2022 comedy Bodies Bodies Bodies (they essentially say they played that game last time), but forgets to make the fallout even vaguely comedic, and the only real glimpses of story are brushed aside in 60-second montages. Shallow, depressing and horribly made, It’s What’s Inside hides its boring relationship drama behind a sci-fi setup. With its hooky premise and lazy execution, the only discernible character is Netflix itself.