Returning to the universe of a beloved film for a long-anticipated sequel is a tall order, however doing it a number of a long time later places the strain on much more: it may be exhausting to ship one thing really satisfying and never simply “effective” as a result of your expectations are low. Simply ask “Glad Gilmore 2.” However once in a while, the magic that made that unique film so fantastic comes again, and I am shocked as anybody that “Freakier Friday” has come by means of with flying colours.
Again in 2003, Disney’s “Freaky Friday” was a contemporary remake of a traditional physique swap comedy that discovered Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan as a mom/daughter duo struggling to seek out frequent floor till a mystical fortune cookie compelled them to actually stroll in every others’ sneakers and see how the opposite half lives. It is arguably the most effective model of the acquainted system (even Quentin Taraintino loves it), completely using the early 2000s rebellious, millennial vitality and magnificence towards a suburban therapist mom who must loosen up and bear in mind what it is prefer to be younger once more. Flash ahead to 2025, and “Freakier Friday” ups the ante with a four-way physique swap.
Tess Coleman (Curtis) continues to be a working psychologist making ready to go out on her first e book tour, and he or she’s even tapping in on that candy podcasting market. At the least that is the medium the film makes use of to assist catch the viewers up on her life, which incorporates serving to her grownup daughter Anna (Lohan), now working as a music supervisor to a serious popstar named Ella (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan of the spectacular “By no means Have I Ever”), as a quasi-co-parent of Anna’s equally rebellious, surfer daughter Harper (Julia Butters, of “As soon as Upon a Time… in Hollywood”). You see, Anna selected to boost Harper as a single mother or father, and there is not any extra backstory than that. Truthfully, it is not vital to the story, and in actuality, it is nobody’s enterprise however Anna’s.
Nevertheless, Anna’s life is about to alter fairly drastically when a college rivalry between Harper and a newly emigrated, fashion-inclined, posh British pupil named Lily (Sophia Hammons) leads to a meet-cute with fellow mother or father Eric (Manny Jacinto of “The Good Place”) the place the sparks fly flirtatiously, and a six-month courtship results in a quick engagement and impending marriage that makes Harper and Lily’s confrontational relationship that a lot more durable to take care of (to not point out offering an analogous pressing framework for the physique swap system to wreak havoc on yet again).
Acquainted laughs however recent jokes with new wrinkles, each actually and figuratively
Fortunately, “Freakier Friday” is not only a lazy retread of the primary film, and there is a unbelievable evolution of maturity for our returning characters, in addition to some new issues they need to confront on this stage of their life. Plus, now we have a second layer of coronary heart and laughs in relation to bringing within the youthful technology in on the enjoyable. Even the precise magical spell that brings concerning the physique swap has discovered classes from the previous, because the generic, stereotypical Asian mysticism from the unique film been changed by low cost fortune teller Madame Jen, performed splendidly by Vanessa Bayer (“Saturday Night time Stay”).
When the spell takes maintain in a single day, it is not Tess and Anna who’re swapping locations with one another. This time, Tess swaps locations Lily, and Anna Swaps locations with Harper, making for extra absurd confusion and chaos. The truth is, if there’s one main shortcoming within the film, it is that the four-way physique swap is initially fairly disorienting, and for the primary half of the film, you may end up forgetting who is meant to be embodying who. However in the end, it will get a lot simpler to observe because the story unfolds.
Disney
Whereas the primary film supplied loads of age perspective jokes and gags to touch upon the hole between Lohan’s 15-year outdated Anna and Curtis’ middle-aged Tess, a brand new wrinkle is added now that Tess is a full-fledged grandmother. Kudos to Curtis for being sport to have Lily make such devastating jokes about her aged look, from having a crevasse in her brow to not having any lips. There are many different amusing cases of generational poking and prodding, every thing from Fb being perceived as a know-how for outdated individuals to Coldplay and John Mayer being the geriatric music of selection.
“Freakier Friday” would not waste a lot time explaining this spell to Harper and Lily, leaving them to belief that Tess and Anna know what they’re speaking about once they reveal that they’ve handled this earlier than. However this leaves Tess and Anna scrambling to determine how one can reverse the spell as shortly as doable whereas nonetheless having some enjoyable as aged dad and mom in teenage our bodies, taking full benefit of consuming all of the stuff that their our bodies cannot deal with and driving scooters on the beachside whereas the Spice Ladies blasts on the soundtrack.
Curtis and Lohan have a blast, however Butters and Hammons shine too
In the meantime, Harper and Lily are protecting a bit secret of how one can reverse the spell to allow them to spend time on Tess and Anna’s our bodies with a purpose to cease Anna getting married to Eric. Harper would not wish to depart Los Angeles, however Lily needs to return to London, her coronary heart nonetheless aching from the lack of her mom as a baby. In order that they each give you a plan to interrupt them up that includes calling up Anna’s ex-boyfriend Jake (Chad Michael Murray, now a Netflix Christmas hunk), the biker heartthrob from the primary film. Truthfully, it is nearly like double “Freaky Friday” with a reverse-“Guardian Lure,” which appears like a really sophisticated ice skating transfer.
However that is additionally the place the film’s beating coronary heart comes from. Harper and Lily are the characters who primarily have to return to an understanding with a purpose to break the spell, although there’s nonetheless loads that Anna and Tess need to resolve too, even when their battle involving Tess’ overbearing co-parenting and Anna’s reluctance to just accept her assist sort of falls by the wayside when all is alleged and carried out.
Don’t be concerned, Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan nonetheless get loads of screen-time, they usually’re not wherever close to sidelined due to this. It is simply that we have already seen Lohan and Curtis do that dance earlier than, and it is Julia Butters and Sophia Hammons flip to study a lesson. The excellent news is that each younger stars greater than maintain their very own subsequent to their veteran display screen counterparts, particularly in relation to the genuinely heartfelt and emotional story beats that assist make this sequel higher than it has any proper to be.
Disney
Curtis continues to be the standout MVP of your complete manufacturing. She once more provides this efficiency 100%, and the best way she embodies teenage vitality with that little further, uptight, British twist as Lily is extremely humorous. Lohan continues to be having a superb time too, and he or she often will get to deliver a number of the similar vitality to her efficiency, however Curtis simply has a lot extra to play with in her portrayal of Sophia Hammons’ character.
Sure, there’s nonetheless loads of hilarity and silliness that is simply on the cusp of being too absurd, particularly when Lily and Harper (bear in mind, they’re in Tess and Anna’s our bodies) begin hanging out with popstar Ella, assist her by means of a excessive profile superstar breakup and have an impromptu photoshoot sporting some wild, modern wardrobes in a sequence that is undeniably enjoyable however verges and being a bit too wacky. However “Freakier Friday” nonetheless would not stray too removed from the tone and magnificence of the unique.
A legacy-quel that does not shoehorn in callbacks and nostalgia? Superb!
Pperhaps essentially the most refreshing a part of this legacy-quel is that it is not obsessive about merely reliving essentially the most beloved moments simply because they’ll. Director Nisha Ganatra (of Mindy Kaling’s “Late Night time”) and author Jordan Weiss (“Sweethearts”) use callbacks and different returning characters sparingly and naturally. The truth is, aside from the first idea of the movie itself, the sequel in the end saves many of the nostalgia for the movie’s last act, which is able to make followers of Lohan’s fictional Pink Slip rock band very glad.
You will get to see Mark Harmon again as Tess’ husband Ryan, although he is not giving fairly the identical measurement supporting position, and that is completely effective. Anna’s rock band mates performed by Christina Vidal and Haley Hudson are again, however they are not shoehorned into the story. Anna’s brother Harry (once more performed by Ryan Malgarini) comes again for a short second, however the filmmakers had been sensible sufficient to know that he did not must be concerned with the entire story this time. Even Chad Michael Murray’s presence as Jake makes excellent sense, and the script is not overly involved with explaining what went incorrect together with his highschool romance with Anna, as a result of it has been 22 years, and nobody needs to be apprehensive about that at this age.
When it comes right down to it, “Freakier Friday” is full of life, enjoyable, charming, and simply plain pleasant. It manages to return to the world of the unique “Freaky Friday” with out getting too huge for its britches or lacking a beat. Once more, whereas the quadruple physique swap can are inclined to make the film really feel a bit unwieldy and messy right here and there, “Freakier Friday” continues to be a blast, possibly even a hoot, bringing to thoughts films like “13 Happening 30” and “Clueless” earlier than it. Truthfully, it is simply good to have this sort of live-action household comedy ship such high quality laughs at a time when studios have largely deserted them.
/Movie Score: 8 out of 10
“Freakier Friday” opens in theaters on August 8, 2025.
