by Charles Kirkland, Jr.
Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan reprise their roles as Tess and Anna Coleman in the eagerly anticipated sequel to the Disney classic Freaky Friday called Freakier Friday.
Surfer girl Harper Coleman’s (Julia Butters) life is thrown into a downward spiral when her mother Anna decides to get married to the father of her opponent in school, Lily Reyes, a pretentious, fashion-forward girl with a British accent. With the prospect of being step-sisters as a motivation, the two girls form a tenuous alliance to break up their parents’ upcoming wedding. Unbeknownst to the girls, when you try to mess with people out of a lack of understanding, the Coleman family has a quite atypical force that rectifies the problem. Let the switching begin!
The screenplay for Freakier Friday is written by Jordan Weiss from a story by Elyse Hollander and Jordan Weiss, based on the book “Freaky Friday” by Mary Rodgers. The film stars Oscar winner Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan with Julia Butters, Sophia Hammons, Manny Jacinto, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, Rosalind Chao, Chad Michael Murray, and Mark Harmon. The film is directed by Nisha Ganatra (Late Night, The High Note).
Freakier Friday is the latest in a long line of films based on the book by Mary Rodgers’ book. Disney first made a film in 1976 that starred a young Jodie Foster. A second version of the film was released in 1995 starring Shelley Long and Gaby Hoffmann. Although there was a television movie made based on a sequel novel of Rodgers’ Freaky Friday series, Freakier is the first feature film sequel in the franchise’s history. It follows events that occurred in the 2003 version of the film and reunites Lohan and Curtis in a movie for the first time in over twenty years.
At one time, Nisha Ganatra appeared to be on course for being one of the hot new directors. In 2019, after she directed the well-received, Sundance premiere film Late Night starring Mindy Kaling and Emma Thompson, she seemed to be heading on an upward track, making a transition from television work onto the big screen. The next year, after completing The High Note starring Tracee Ellis-Ross, Dakota Johnson and Kelvin Harrison Jr, she retreated to television for a couple of projects but had been absent from the world of feature films. Until now. In a surprising announcement, Ganatra was given the reins by Disney over this sequel.
Believe it or not, Freaky Friday (2003) is considered a Disney classic. It strays a bit from the book with different characters and a story, but it was a fun movie that was enjoyed by a generation. This movie honors the original spirit of the movie (maybe a bit too much) and builds its own at the same time. Instead of two people switching, there are four (Anna, Tess, Harper, and Lily). The story is kind of a mash-up between the first movie and The Parent Trap, but it goes in its direction.
The gang is all here. Mark Harmon, Chad Michael Murray, Pink Slip (Christina Vidal and Haley Hudson), and more. Almost everyone alive from the first film is in this sequel, twenty-two years later, reprising the roles and jokes from that movie. Jamie Lee Curtis is hilarious, especially when she is trolling the “I’m so old” jokes that were classic from the first film. They are funnier this time around because Curtis is older, and they don’t hold back on that fact either. She is a really good sport for that.
In the same vein, one of the big drawbacks to this film is the large number of cameos and references to the first movie. There are so many throwbacks that watching the first film is almost a prerequisite to completely getting all the humor in this movie. Of course, there are plot holes and inconsistencies just like in the first, but when you are making a movie about switching bodies, you are kinda making it up as you go along.
Rated PG for thematic elements, rude humor, language, and some suggestive references, Freakier Friday is a super-cool throwback to a time when movies were just for fun and family. There are no dinosaurs, car crashes, or superheroes, but silly comedy and a rocking soundtrack that everyone can enjoy. So turn off your reality meters, sit back, and enjoy the hijinks. It’s better that way.
Freakier Friday can be seen in theaters on August 8, 2025.
Grade: B-
