TL;DR – A delightful film full of silly shenanigans.

Post-Credit Scene – There are mid-credit scenes.

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film.

Freakier Friday Review –

There is a lot of choice in the body change genre of comedy. You can take an older person and make them young again, or make a young person old. You can even swap some twins around if you want to change things up. However, sometimes you want to get more bang for your buck, and that is where we enter body swap territory. In today’s entry, we look at the film that might be the queen of the body swap genre, and it is time for a sequel to do it all over again.

So, to set the scene, back in the 2000s, calamity came to the lives of Tess Coleman (Jamie Lee Curtis) and her daughter Anna (Lindsay Lohan) when they read a fortune cookie at the same time and swapped bodies, living each other’s lives until an act of selfishness broke the spell. It has now been twenty-two years since that fateful time. But with Anna about to marry her new fiancée, Eric Davies (Manny Jacinto), there is a significant change in the lives of her daughter Harper (Julia Butters) and new stepdaughter Lily (Sophia Hammons) coming. Well, it seems like it is the perfect time for another switch-up.   

Before we dive into the film, I do have to say that I have not watched the first film in probably twenty years, not from a lack of trying, but this week has been a week. So, I am not sure if that would have changed my enjoyment of the film or not, and as such, your mileage may vary. However, what I can say is that I was honestly surprised just how much I liked this film, because I didn’t have much hope for this film walking in. A legacy sequel for a sort of okay remake of a movie, adapting an old book, didn’t fill me with a lot of confidence. However, I am grateful to have been wrong in this case because they knocked it out of the park.

By expanding the swap from two characters to four, the film ambitiously explores a broader range of relationships. Overall, by the time the credits roll, I would say most of it pays off in a way that feels satisfactory. I think that is because they nail that ‘fish out of water’ feel of being a teenager and waking up in an elderly woman, or worse, your mother. Most of the original cast are back, and that does give them a leg up in the proceedings. Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis feel like they are stepping back into their roles without missing a beat. They have this instant bond that you just need for a film like this, and then they absolutely rise to the hilarity of becoming teenagers trying to break up their parents’ marriage and the shenanigans that come with that.

Some of the other core characters don’t quite hit that level, but it was still a delight. One of the best aspects of the film is just how many character actors they got in to do minor one-off roles that left the entire cinema in stitches. While I did enjoy the movie, there are some things that do hold it back somewhat. One example of this is that you do need to gloss over the general set-up for the swap, because it makes little sense when you really think about it. There are some characters, like the one Mark Harmon was playing, that did feel underused. Also, I am not sure the film quite landed the emotional touchstones that it was going after. The one exception to this is Manny Jacinto, who nails the emotional journey his character goes through. I mean, it helps that he is naturally charming, but you do feel the emotional journey. All of this is important in a film full of therapy speak, meet-cutes, and overbearing mimes. Add to this some quality music, an odd car chase, and whatever Chad Michael Murray was doing, and you have a fun time.

  In the end, do we recommend Freakier Friday? Yes, we would. It is not a perfect film, but I did have a fun time, and it is splendid to laugh sometimes. The character work from Curtis, Lohan, and Jacinto was entertaining, the story was silly but allowed for maximum shenanigans, and for a film like this, that is what you need. If you liked Freakier Friday, we would recommend to you Thelma.

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

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Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of Freakier Friday
Directed by – Nisha Ganatra
Screenplay by – Jordan Weiss
Story  by – Elyse Hollander & Jordan Weiss
Based on – Freaky Friday by Mary Rodgers
Music by – Amie Doherty
Cinematography by – Matthew Clark
Edited by – Eleanor Infante
Production/Distribution Companies – Gunn Films, Burr! Productions & Walt Disney Pictures
Starring – Jamie Lee Curtis, Lindsay Lohan, Julia Butters, Sophia Hammons, Manny Jacinto, Mark Harmon, Chad Michael Murray, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, Rosalind Chao, Vanessa Bayer, Christina Vidal Mitchell, Haley Hudson, X Mayo, June Diane Raphael, Ryan Malgarini, Lucille Soong, Stephen Tobolowsky, Sherry Cola, Aryan Simhadri, Jordan E. Cooper, Santina Muha, Kylah Davila, Elaine Hendrix & Chloe Fineman
Rating – Australia: PG; Canada: G; Germany: 0; New Zealand: PG; United Kingdom: PG; United States: PG