Dating the Enemy

Dating the Enemy
Dating the Enemy
Directed by	Megan Simpson Huberman
Written by	Megan Simpson Huberman
Starring	Guy Pearce; Claudia Karvan; John Howard; Matt Day
Release date	1996;
Running time	97 minutes
Country	Australia
Language	English

Dating The Enemy is a 1996 Australian romantic comedy film written and directed by Megan Simpson Huberman, starring Claudia Karvan and Guy Pearce. It tells the story of a male-female couple in Sydney who swap bodies and have to live each other's lives, learning about life as the other gender and to more fully empathise with each other.

Plot

One Valentine's Day evening, a group of single, dateless friends get together to play Trivial Pursuit. The brash and self-confident Brett (Guy Pearce) has just landed a job as presenter of a TV gossip show. Tash (Claudia Karvan) is a studious and self-conscious science journalist for a national newspaper,. They have nothing in common, but decide to get together.

A year later Brett's career is going well, with the possibility of a job in New York, and popularity has gone to his head. Tash is still trying to write serious scientific articles for a newspaper that is more interested in gossip and sex, with her articles therefore frequently buried on page 12. Their relationship is on the rocks.

During a Valentine's Day boat trip on a full moon night in Sydney Harbour, an argument ensues and Brett decides he has had enough and ends the relationship. Tash tells him: 'I wish you could be me, so you could see how I feel for once. I wish I could be you, so I could show you what an idiot you've become!'.

They wake to find that they have swapped bodies, and must learn what it is really like to be in the other person's shoes. Tash has to try to keep Brett's high-profile career on track, while Brett is so bored by Tash's job, he ends up trying to make science sexy. Each learns to appreciate the other as only together can they make the enforced predicament work.