It feels like being an adult male reviewing a Disney fantasy comedy aimed at a specific audience needs to come with certain caveats sometimes. Then again, it feels like saying that only ever applies to the less-than-average features being critiqued. You don’t see many excuses being made when the films are universally heralded as being good. Regardless, I went into Freakier Friday with no real expectations, beyond the memory of enjoying the 2003 remake (and enjoying it again on a recent rewatch). There’s also the matter of appreciating Disney’s efforts to put out a female-friendly sequel like this into theaters (because if the boys can get 10+ nostalgia-fueled reboots a year, surely at least one for the girls can’t be harming anyone). Sadly, while it’s nice to see the original stars playing off each other again, let alone enjoying the peppy spirit, it’s a bit irritating to watch a film like this on a big screen that has so much “streaming movie energy.” On top of that, a few too many uninspired gags and pointed jokes focused on age only do so much when there’s a lack of much cleverness behind them. So sure, this movie is freakier, but it’s not funnier, let alone better.
22 years after mother Tess Coleman (Jamie Lee Curtis) and daughter Anna Coleman (Lindsay Lohan) experienced a wild 24 hours where they traded bodies, we are introduced to a new generation that’s about to go through a similar life-changing event. Anna’s daughter, Harper (Julia Butters), and her school rival/soon-to-be stepsister Lily (Sophia Hammons) are making things quite difficult for Anna and her fiancé/Lily’s father, Eric (Manny Jacinto). Thanks to being in the right place at the right time, a bit of magic occurs again, only this time it swaps around four different people into different bodies. Harper is now her mother, and vice versa, while Lily is now Grandma Tess, and vice versa. Getting past the shock of this revelation, how can these four navigate a crazy day, as well as come to realize new perspectives by living in another’s shoes?
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Yes, while the added twist of having more than just one body swap occurring is fun, the film is still ultimately relying on the same formula as before. This includes mother-daughter drama, the introduction of a new step-parent, and even a big concert event as a climactic location. The subtraction of romantic melodrama for the teens is actually quite welcome, even if it is somewhat on the periphery regarding a major pop star (Never Have I Ever’s Maitreyi Ramakrishnan) trying to get over being dumped, while Anna eventually has to prove her love to Eric. That said, a returning Chad Michael Murray as Jake, Anna’s high school boyfriend, gets some laughs out of his continued infatuation with Tess, based on how they bonded in the previous film.
Naturally, the real joy is supposed to be coming from watching this set of actors have to establish their own personalities, and then have the others play them in other bodies. As newcomers, Butters and Hammons are having enough fun, even if neither possesses the standout quality that fueled Lohan’s brief but major stardom in 2003. That being said, Lohan and Curtis continue to excel at playing into this sort of story, even as they embody different personas than before. Curtis, now an Oscar-winner, really does have a great comedic knack for finding the right rhythms to play without letting the broadness overshadow what everyone else is doing. Meanwhile, having seen Lohan in a couple of these direct-to-Netflix rom-coms, she benefits perhaps the most from showing how good she really still can be when given a genuine opportunity to shine.
Performances aside, this film comes from director Nisha Ganatra and writer Jordan Weiss. While there’s a clear desire to supply what’s needed for a movie like this, adjust for the times, and provide enough in the way of throwbacks for the older cast members to work with, I couldn’t help but think this was a substandard way of delivering on something that worked quite well the first time around. It’s having the knowledge that the 2003 movie worked as well as it did that allows me the information needed to see how this legacy sequel could be stronger. As it stands, pushing as hard as it does on a mix of elderly jokes and silly shenanigans only goes so far.
Obviously, there’s a sitcom-like framework to how some of this should be playing out, but even while acknowledging that this is a film universe in which magic exists, getting a trite scene where a mass food fight breaks out for no real reason just had me rolling my eyes when I would have instead appreciated more work being done in other ways that could have heightened both the animosity between certain characters, let alone the comedic tension that comes from how things suddenly switch around.
Not helping is how plain this film looks. While Freaky Friday wasn’t exactly pushing boundaries in terms of cinematography, it looked like a real movie compared to the Disney Channel Original films arriving on TV at the same time. Curiously, while Freakier Friday was announced from the start as a film that would be receiving a theatrical release, it still looks and feels very limited in its presentation. It’s not garish, but the lighting, locations, and rhythms of the film all speak more to an age composed of streaming originals, as opposed to something more cinematically worthwhile. At 111 minutes (including blooper-filled credits), it’s the sort of thing that becomes noticeable when a film that should be tighter finds time to drag.
Messaging-wise, there’s nothing wrong with what’s at play here. This is a movie dedicated specifically to moms, and while Freakier Friday didn’t quite push me into emotional territory, there’s a good-natured story at the center of what’s taking place, and a desire to work as something sweet for those who grew up with any form of this story previously, as well as something for a younger audience getting into body-swapping chicanery for the first time. Yes, I wish the overall script had a bit more wit going into it, given the amount of time that has gone by and the opportunities presented. Still, I can understand an underserved audience being pleased by what’s being delivered. Plus, not for nothing – “Take Me Away,” by the film’s fictional band Pink Slip, still slaps.
Freakier Friday opens in theaters on August 8, 2025.
