Dating the Enemy is an Australian Romantic Comedy film from 1996, written and directed by Megan Simpson Huberman, and starring Claudia Karvan, Guy Pearce, with Lisa Hensley, Matt Day, Pippa Grandison and John Howard. This is based loosely on the 1931 novel Turnabout by Thorne Smith.
Meet Brett and Tash. Brett is good-looking, confident and perhaps a tad egotistical. Tash is intellectual, reserved and maybe a little too smart for her own good. When these two meet, it's Love at First Sight, but when a lack of compromise threatens to break up their relationship, the natural forces of the universe decide to intervene and Brett and Tash wake up - in each other's bodies!
Dating the Enemy provides examples of:
- Acquired Situational Narcissism: Brett's success as a TV presenter has gone to his head, contributing to the tension between him and Tash.
- Beta Couple: Paul and Christine, the couple who introduce Brett and Tash, who get married partway through the film.
- …But He Sounds Handsome: Brett and Tash both take opportunities to talk themselves up, as well as pinning the blame on the other for their relationship troubles.
- Double Standard: Rape, Sci-Fi: Tash ends up sleeping with Colette in Brett's body, while Brett does the same with Rob in Tash's body. Also has elements of Double Standard Rape: Female on Male, as Colette ignores Tash telling her to stop (though Rob wasn't much better in that regard), and “Not If They Enjoyed It” Rationalisation.
- For Science!: Brett talks Tash into trying to have sex while body-swapped, for this reason. They don't end up going through with it until toward the end of the movie when they genuinely reconcile, after which they swap back.
- "Freaky Friday" Flip: Combined with Gender Bender, Brett and Tash wake up in each other's bodies.
- In Another Man's Shoes: In an argument with Brett, Tash wishes aloud that he could be her and see what it's like for her, and that she could be him and show him what an idiot he's become. Two days later... Elsewhere, Letitia tells them both she wishes they could be her and see how nauseated they make her.
- Intrepid Reporter: Tash is a science journalist at The Australian, who has to fight with her editors just to keep her articles scientifically accurate.
- Mirror Reveal: Brett doesn't notice the body swap until he sees Tash's face in the mirror.
- Opposites Attract: Brett and Tash. The subject, along with Love at First Sight, is discussed by a scientist that Brett (as Tash) interviews.
- Raging Stiffie: Tash experiences this in Brett's body.
- Skewed Priorities: Brett insists that Tash not appear in his body in an unironed shirt, claiming that the tabloids would portray him as "tired and emotional." Tash can't believe he considers this a priority.
- Strip Poker: The first act has Brett, Tash and their mutual friends playing Strip Trivial Pursuit. The two quickly seem to start getting questions wrong on purpose, in particular when Tash fails to answer a question involving the title of a sci-fi show about a family Lost in Space.
- This Is Reality: When Tash first suggests that her wish was responsible for what happened to them, Brett tells her that this isn't an episode of I Dream of Jeannie. In turn, Tash rather reasonably points out that they can't explain this scientifically.
- Wimp Fight: Brett and Tash, when they're both accusing the other of causing the swap.
