Freakier Friday offers a fresh and worthy follow-up to the beloved 2003 film starring Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis, rather than rehashing the 'Freaky Friday' concept again. It captures the spirit of the early 2000s while delivering a compelling new story for 2025. The film smartly raises the stakes by introducing two new daughters into the family, creating a more intricate and engaging web of relationships.
Set roughly two decades after the original, the story finds Anna (Lohan) and Tess (Curtis) having grown from their past misadventures. Anna is now a music manager and a single mother to her teenage daughter, Harper (Julia Butters). While they have their disagreements, their bond is far less turbulent than Anna's relationship with Tess was at that age. Everything changes when Anna falls for Eric (Manny Jacinto), a charming English chef who happens to be the father of Harper's high school rival, Lily (Sophia Hammons).
As in the first film, tensions erupt at a wedding. During Anna's bachelorette party, all four women encounter a fortune teller who delivers a cryptic warning. The next morning, they awake to find their bodies scrambled: Anna and Harper have switched places, as have Lily and Tess.
The film takes a while to reach its most entertaining moments. An extended 20-minute prologue detailing how Anna met Eric and the origins of Harper and Lily's feud feels unnecessarily long. Even after the body swap occurs, the story takes time to find its rhythm as the characters embark on separate journeys. However, once the chaos fully ensues, the movie coalesces into a thoroughly enjoyable comedy.
While some jokes lean too heavily on trying to sound trendy, the humor is generally effective, cleverly poking fun at both classic pastimes and modern trends. The film also features satisfying callbacks to the original, including a return appearance from Anna's high school boyfriend, Jake (Chad Michael Murray).
Lohan and Curtis are the film's anchoring forces. Both are hilarious, each perfectly capturing a distinct type of teenager trapped in an older woman's body. Curtis, as Lily-in-Tess's-body, is delightfully dramatic and image-obsessed, using faux confidence to mask her insecurities. Her physical comedy is superb, making her character believably feel like a 65-year-old with a 15-year-old's spirit.
Meanwhile, Lohan faces the subtler challenge of portraying a teen struggling to see her mother's perspective. Her performance as Harper-in-Anna's-body features a nuanced and touching journey as she gradually realizes the depth of her mother's love. Individually they are excellent, but Lohan and Curtis truly shine in their scenes together, playing off each other with impeccable comic timing.
In contrast, Hammons and Butters take a bit longer to make an impact. Their initial scenes, largely set in detention, offer them little to do. However, in larger family scenes where all four actresses interact, they confidently hold their own. This slight imbalance in focus can be attributed to the story's heart: while Tess and Anna have largely resolved their issues, it is Harper and Lily who must bridge their significant divide.
At its core, Freakier Friday explores the complex relationships between four women. While it can't delve into every dynamic in depth, it wisely focuses on the evolving bonds between Harper and her mother and between Harper and Lily. These central relationships are developed thoughtfully amidst the comedic chaos, making the emotional payoff at the film's conclusion feel both surprising and genuinely earned.
