Freakier Friday: A Solid Legacy Sequel (Early Review)

It’s been 22 years since Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis starred as the mother-daughter duo of Anna and Tess Coleman in 2003’s “Freaky Friday”, which, since its release, is regarded as one of the finer Disney live-action entries of its 2000’s era, and has since rode on a wave of fond memories and nostalgia that has carried on to this day. The body switching comedy was a huge success, and all these years later, still makes for an extremely entertaining watch. Now, after many years of a sequel being demanded by fans of the first movie, the two return for Freakier Friday, out in theaters this weekend.

Years after the events of the first film, Anna (Lohan) is now a single mother to a rebellious teenage daughter, Harper (Butters), and much like things used to be between Anna and her mother Tess (Curtis), the two can’t seem to stand each other. Things become more complicated when Anna meets Eric (Manny Jacinto), a single dad whose daughter Lily (Sophia Hammonds) goes to the same school as Harper’s, and the two fall in love and are soon to be married. Harper and Lily, however, cannot stand one another, and the tensions between them put pressure on their parents’ upcoming marriage. Just when things couldn’t get any worse, the curse that switched Anna and Tess’ bodies before strikes again, but this time, they end up swapping with Harper and Lily, with the two adults becoming the teenagers, and vice versa.

With many sequels that have tried to recapture the magic of their predecessors over the years, from big blockbusters to indie successes to streaming hits, it seemed inevitable that Freaky Friday would someday get a chance to have its follow-up as well, especially in an era where many projects want to recapture the 2000’s era. Luckily for Freakier Friday, director Nisha Ganatra helps this sequel retain just enough of that spirit to make it an entertaining watch overall. After an extremely rough start, featuring some haphazard writing and many jokes that don’t land, the film kicks into high gear once the “freakier” aspect comes into play, and the four leads get to be extremely creative playing the people in front of them, while making some fun callbacks to the original film.

Much of the charm in Freakier Friday comes through from said four lead actresses. Lohan and Curtis are fantastic once again, and don’t seem to have missed a step in the last 20+ years. Their comedic timing and on-screen chemistry is once again delightful, and seeing the two of them play teenagers this time in a very different way and try to navigate through everything while trying not to give away that they’re not really them makes for some extremely funny antics and even some solid physical comedy from the two. Given Harper and Lily practically hate one another, seeing the body swapping here also give them a chance to get along and understand the love Anna and Eric have for each other makes for some emotionally tender moments between them, and adds to the film’s overall charm.

Equally impressive are Butters and Hammonds, who channel Anna and Tess rather effectively as well, and going toe-to-toe with Lohan and Curtis in several moments, seeing the power dynamics playing in incredibly interesting ways between the teenagers and the adults. The charming performances from them are anchored by solid supporting turns from Jacinto, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan (Ella), and Chad Michael Murray, who add a lot of humor and levity to the proceedings, with some heartfelt moments from Jacinto that back the more emotional beats of the film. Meanwhile, Mark Harmon returns as Ryan, Tess’ husband, who is also used effectively in a few poignant moments. Throw in a solid soundtrack to elevate the proceedings and some terrific costume designs, and on some technical levels, the film succeeds even more.

Where Freakier Friday suffer, albeit slightly, is within its storytelling. By doubling up the body switches this time, there are some entertaining sequences that come from it, but it makes some of the plot lines it juggles a bit scattered in the process. Between the body swapped teenagers trying to figure out how to deal with this upcoming marriage, and potentially even trying to stall it as they can’t stand each other, and the body swapped adults trying to keep it all together, and hope the “adults” keep up appearances, the film can get scatterbrained especially in the second act. Similarly, the first act is also a bit haphazard, with some clunky dialogue setting up the characters and the issues they are dealing with, and the exchanges between them sometimes feeling like last second additions to the story.

Despite those issues, however, Freakier Friday is still a lot of fun. Whether or not it will garner a following like the first film remains to be seen, but fans of the original will likely enjoy the continuing adventures of Lohan and Curtis having another freaky Friday in a sequel that ranks among the better legacy sequels from Disney, making for a charming watch and theatre trip for all ages.

*still courtesy of Walt Disney Pictures*

If you liked this, please read our other reviews here and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter or Instagram or like us on Facebook.

Shaurya Chawla