Jennifer Aniston is probably going to be getting the bulk of the coverage from the promotional campaign for The Switch, which is too bad. Because it seems like the star, the lead, of the film is Jason Bateman, and La Bateman is lovely and hilarious. Anyway, Aniston and Bateman were together for some of the press recently, and they got some questions about friends with benefits, or that eternal question, “Can you f-ck your friend without it blowing up in your face (and not in the money shot way)?” Jennifer’s reaction was basically yes, a girl can be friends with a dude without him ever trying to bone her (ha), and Jason’s reaction was basically that every dude wants to bone every girl at all times, friends are no exception. It’s kind of funny:

Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman play the best of friends who lurch towards something more in their new romantic comedy ‘The Switch.’ The movie premise allowed the two stars to debate the eternal girl-guy buddy question — can men and women be the best of friends without the physical part?

When posed the question at the film’s press day, Aniston immediately shot out a “Yes!,” adding that she’s had such hands-off friendships that have lasted any temptation.

Bateman just as quickly countered with a “No!” This prompted an hilarious mini-debate.
Aniston said that women are able to walk that no-hanky-panky line better than men.

“It’s hard,” said Aniston. “But I think women have an easier time than men do.”

Bateman countered with his own prolonged answer that had Aniston literally cackling at the interview table.

“I don’t want to make a horrible generalization,” Bateman said, slowly. “But a lot of the guys I’ve met will sleep with pretty much any girl that they meet. And if they are actually good friends with that girl that’s a home run. How can you resist that?”

The sleeping-with-anyone part is something that you just “cannot shut off,” he added. It can remain temporarily off if one or both parties are in a relationship. But that’s really a holding pattern.

“As soon as both are single, you can just kind of start the clock,” Bateman said. “Then you soak it in booze and things happen.”

The explanation brought the house down during a ‘Switch’ press conference at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, Sunday.

Based on the merits of the arguments, it sounds like Bateman carried the day.

[From PopEater]

He’s adorable, right? La Bateman is lovely. Can you imagine how irresistible he was when he was single? Look at those eyes! Sigh… so dreamy.

Also, I mentioned this in the links yesterday, but it’s worth repeating. The long-awaited, dreamed-of and masturbated-to fantasy of an Arrested Development movie is starting to take shape by the day, and in a recent interview, La Bateman discussed a potential role for Aniston. Her? Michael, you are quite the cupid. You can stick an arrow in my buttocks any time! Ah, AD. Seriously, if they try to jam Aniston in there, I will burn my DVDs. At the time, La Bateman said, “Yeah, actually, there’s a real good part for her in the ‘Arrested Development’ movie. There’s no offers on this one. She’s gonna have to sing for her supper. I don’t know, we’ll see if she’s available. She’s busy. She’s pretty famous; I don’t know if you’ve heard of her. She’s pretty backed up. Hopefully the guy who’s in charge will like her for that part because I’m going to suggest her.” Thankfully, Jason later back-tracked a little, writing on Twitter that he was merely “thinking out loud.” Oh, Jason. You’re too pretty to think.

Bateman on August 9, 2010, and with his wife on August 7. Credit: WENN.