Returning to the universe of a beloved film for a long-anticipated sequel is a tall order, however doing it a number of many years later places the stress on much more: it may be arduous to ship one thing actually satisfying and never simply “high-quality” as a result of your expectations are low. Simply ask “Pleased Gilmore 2.” However now and again, the magic that made that authentic film so fantastic comes again, and I am shocked as anybody that “Freakier Friday” has come by 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 search out widespread 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 components (even Quentin Taraintino loves it), completely using the early 2000s rebellious, millennial power and elegance in opposition to a suburban therapist mom who must loosen up and keep 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 getting ready to go out on her first ebook tour, and he or she’s even tapping in on that candy podcasting market. A minimum of 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 lift Harper as a single mum or dad, and there is no extra backstory than that. Truthfully, it isn’t vital to the story, and in actuality, it is nobody’s enterprise however Anna’s.
Nonetheless, Anna’s life is about to vary fairly drastically when a college rivalry between Harper and a newly emigrated, fashion-inclined, posh British pupil named Lily (Sophia Hammons) ends in a meet-cute with fellow mum or dad 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 tougher to cope with (to not point out offering an analogous pressing framework for the physique swap components to wreak havoc on once more).
Acquainted laughs however contemporary 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 should confront on this stage of their life. Plus, now we have a second layer of coronary heart and laughs with regards to bringing within the youthful technology in on the enjoyable. Even the precise magical spell that brings concerning the physique swap has realized 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 Reside”).
When the spell takes maintain in a single day, it isn’t 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 would possibly end up forgetting who is meant to be embodying who. However finally, it will get a lot simpler to comply with because the story unfolds.
Disney
Whereas the primary film provided 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, all the pieces from Fb being perceived as a know-how for outdated individuals to Coldplay and John Mayer being the geriatric music of alternative.
“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 rapidly as potential 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 using scooters on the beachside whereas the Spice Women blasts on the soundtrack.
Curtis and Lohan have a blast, however Butters and Hammons shine too
In the meantime, Harper and Lily are preserving just a little secret of how one can reverse the spell to allow them to spend time on Tess and Anna’s our bodies in an effort 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 toddler. In order that they each provide you with 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-“Mum or dad Entice,” which seems 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 in an effort to break the spell, although there’s nonetheless a lot that Anna and Tess should resolve too, even when their battle involving Tess’ overbearing co-parenting and Anna’s reluctance to simply accept her assist form of falls by the wayside when all is alleged and finished.
Don’t be concerned, Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan nonetheless get loads of screen-time, and so they’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 with regards 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 way in which she embodies teenage power 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 convey a few of the identical power 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 (keep in mind, they’re in Tess and Anna’s our bodies) begin hanging out with popstar Ella, assist her by a excessive profile celeb breakup and have an impromptu photoshoot carrying some wild, modern wardrobes in a sequence that is undeniably enjoyable however verges and being just a little too wacky. However “Freakier Friday” nonetheless would not stray too removed from the tone and elegance of the unique.
A legacy-quel that does not shoehorn in callbacks and nostalgia? Wonderful!
Pperhaps probably the most refreshing a part of this legacy-quel is that it isn’t obsessive about merely reliving probably the most beloved moments simply because they will. 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, apart from the first idea of the movie itself, the sequel finally saves a lot of the nostalgia for the movie’s remaining act, which can make followers of Lohan’s fictional Pink Slip rock band very completely satisfied.
You may get to see Mark Harmon again as Tess’ husband Ryan, although he is not giving fairly the identical dimension supporting function, and that is completely high-quality. Anna’s rock band associates 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 quick second, however the filmmakers have been good sufficient to know that he did not have to be concerned with the entire story this time. Even Chad Michael Murray’s presence as Jake makes good sense, and the script is not overly involved with explaining what went improper together with his highschool romance with Anna, as a result of it has been 22 years, and nobody ought to be apprehensive about that at this age.
When it comes all the way down to it, “Freakier Friday” is vigorous, enjoyable, charming, and simply plain pleasant. It manages to return to the world of the unique “Freaky Friday” with out getting too large 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, perhaps even a hoot, bringing to thoughts films like “13 Occurring 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.
