For many millennials and Gen Z cinephiles, Mark Waters’ Freaky Friday is a cornerstone of early 2000s cinema. The third adaptation of Mary Rodgers’ 1972 novel of the same name, this Y2K outing starring Disney icon Lindsay Lohan and scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis uses its central body-swap premise as a means to explore generational misunderstandings and the tunnel vision that comes from being stuck in your own perspective. The film resonated with both mothers and daughters thanks to its unexpectedly nuanced portrayal of the trials and tribulations faced by both parties, surprising empathy and canny comedy. Add to this the film’s respectable box office success, it’s somewhat surprising that it took 22 years for a sequel to materialize.
Freakier Friday finds Tess (Jamie Lee Curtis) and Anna (Lindsay Lohan) decades down the line from where we left them. For Tess, not much has changed, but Anna is on the other side of the fence, now a mother herself dealing with a rebellious teenage daughter. Avid surfer Harper (Julia Butters) adores her laid-back Californian lifestyle – in fact the only disruption to Harper’s otherwise content world is her new lab partner Lily (Sophia Hammons), a recent transplant from London alongside her chef father Eric (Manny Jacinto). From fashion choices to personality, the two girls couldn’t be more different, instantly finding the other completely insufferable.
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After an incident at school involving their daughters forces Anna and Eric to cross paths, the single parents fall in love. A speedy six months later, it’s just days before their wedding, and the teens’ worst nightmare is about to come true, as they prepare to become stepsisters. That is, until a kooky psychic (Vanessa Bayer) at Anna’s bachelorette party triggers a body swap (not again!). But this time, it’s not just Anna and Harper who trade places, but also Tess and Lily. Now stuck in the bodies of the adults, the teens team up and hatch a devious plan to derail the wedding before their lives are permanently entwined.
Let’s cut to the chase, is this sequel nostalgia bait? To some degree, absolutely. But does that mean it lacks distinctive qualities? …Okay, at times it does, largely because any attempts to recreate the magic of the original often fall short. Nothing quite compares to that rugged noughties flair, but that doesn’t mean that this sequel is entirely deprived of standout moments, many of which stem from genuinely well-timed comedy, while others emerge from earnest reflections on the layered dynamics and motivations within modern families.
Unsurprisingly, it’s once again Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis who run the show, delivering teen-infused performances that almost make you forget body-swapping isn’t a real phenomenon (as far as we know). Their individual scenes, and especially their moments together, are completely compelling. In contrast, the subplot involving Julia Butters and Sophia Hammons playing Tess and Anna falls noticeably flat, hindering the pace and lacking the emotional depth or charm needed to hold up against their seasoned co-stars.
Then for a film that references England and London so frequently, it seems almost allergic to authenticity. The question most obvious after the film isn’t about the science of swapping bodies – it’s ‘Why do we keep letting Americans do British accents if they’re bad at it?’ Manny Jacinto is a capable and charming romantic lead – he’s proven so several times over – but both his and Hammons’ accents are distractingly artificial and, as we say here in the UK, rather dire.
Like a lightly rebellious Disney protagonist, Freakier Friday is nowhere near perfect, but gives it a good shot. It’s certainly more cliché than its predecessor and lacks some of the original’s polish and edge, but it’s undeniably entertaining for the most part, and sometimes – just sometimes! – that’s all a film needs to be. For fans of the original, it may not fully recapture lightning in a bottle, but Freakier Friday offers enough humor, nostalgia, and stellar performances from its returning leads to make it a worthwhile watch, especially if it introduces a new generation to the Freaky Friday formula.