If a movie’s vibe is greater than either the sum of its parts or the parts themselves, is it still a success? With Freakier Friday, I’m inclined to believe so. This sequel to the 2003 movie based on Mary Rodgers’ novel is incredibly fun and often hilarious, especially with the way Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan throw themselves into their characters, both as adults and body-swapped teens. It is honestly a joy to see their mother-daughter relationship revisited, and they’ve still got the spark that made the 2003 original so memorable.
A quick catch-up at the film’s opening lets us know what’s happened in the last 22 years. Anna (Lohan) has retired from performing music and is now a very popular musician’s manager, along with being the single mother to Harper (Julia Butters), a teenager living her best life. Tess (Curtis) is every bit the loving, doting grandmother Harper could hope for while branching out into authorship and podcasts with her psychiatry practice. But the peace is about to be ruined with the introduction of the superfine Eric (Manny Jacinto), a widowed restaurateur, and his daughter, Lily (Sophia Hammons).
It’s love at first sight with Anna and Eric, but way-chill surfer queen Harper cannot stand Lily’s snotty, snooty self-centeredness. Moreover, Eric and Anna are about to be married in two days and have to make the decision to stay in Los Angeles or move to England, Eric’s homeland, which bothers Tess somewhat (read: more than she’s willing to admit). Anna’s given up a lot to be Harper’s mom, which—of course, being a teenager—Harper doesn’t consider, as all she wants to do is surf and hang with her friends. And do you think Lily’s taking the prospect of Harper, her sworn enemy, becoming her half-sister easily? Oh, hell, no.
And the time is right for a big dose of “Try and see it my way,” as Paul McCartney sang, which comes when each pair—Tess and Anna, and Lily and Harper—makes separate visits to goofy psychic Madame Jen (Vanessa Bayer)… and a familiar earthquake starts. But it’s not Tess and Anna switching bodies, nor is it Lily and Harper; it’s Tess and Lily switching, accompanied by Anna and Harper making a switch of their own, following the mother-daughter switching of the book and this film’s predecessor.
There’s a lot to cover with this film, as four souls have switched places, each with their own different goals. Screenwriter Jordan Weiss packs the comedy in as each person learns how their new body works, whether it’s being able to fall without hurting themselves, what clothes make them look smashing, or regretting not being able to stand without assistance. Everyone’s gifted their own physical time to shine, and they’re also granted the chance to either regain their perspectives or learn new ones they hadn’t considered before. But it’s also about how much of life we take for granted, revealing just how little each character knows about the other due to preconceived notions, outright lies, or the concealment of true feelings. The 2003 film also did this, but the addition of non-family characters provides new dimensions—and dementedness—to the lessons everyone has to learn in order to truly live and love together.
Now that we’ve gotten all that out of the way, let’s talk about how much joy everyone seems to put into their parodies of each other. Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan dive straight into letting their teenage flags fly, and they let themselves off the chain with how hard they go with the physical comedy demanded of them. Weiss’ script and Nisha Ganatra’s direction make the most of Curtis’ physicality and her character’s lack of it; witnessing Curtis-as-Lily complain about not being able to move without many audible cracks in her back and knees is part of this film’s charm, as it’s done gently and with knowing mischief.
All at once, Curtis anchors this ensemble while also being a fully committed part of it —a compliment that isn’t meant to overshadow the rest of the cast’s efforts. But the switch isn’t felt as much with the other characters or performers; it feels more like the actors are saying words tilted slightly enough to make them sound motherly or teenagerly. I kind of missed how well Lohan and Curtis gelled on this facet of the 2003 film, as their switch felt genuine and earned. Here, it’s a little less so; the frenetic nature of the plot—Eric and Anna’s looming wedding, Anna’s popstar client in crisis, potential upheaval from either Anna and Harper moving to England or Eric and Lily staying in L.A., and other machinations—forces the movie past us without letting us sit with Anna, Harper, and Lily long enough to appreciate the nuances in their actors’ performances as each other. We do get to know Harper and Lily through broad strokes, and yes, the adults had their own movie, but I still feel like something was missing.
However, the frenetic nature of the plot is also its saving grace, as the physical comedy used by Nisha Ganatra to elicit big or cringey laughs achieves its desired effect. Much of what drives Freakier Friday is seeing the possibilities and liberties given and taken by the impossibility of body-switching, and Ganatra relishes this welcome spectacle. Everyone’s game for unleashing the most harried, eyes-wide-and-jaws-dropped versions of themselves, and you really can’t help but fall in love with this movie. From the leads to the supporting actors to Manny Jacinto (MORE MANNY IN MORE MOVIES, PLEASE) to Vanessa Bayer, they’re all pulling on the same rope and creating a movie bubblier than a glass of champagne, often howlingly funny, and altogether sweet. And you can’t fault anyone for trying to give you warmth and happiness the way that Freakier Friday does.
