‘Freakier Friday’ review: Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan reunite for more body-switch laughs

Dir: Nisha Ganatra. US. 2025. 111mins.

The body-switching will get much more sophisticated in Freakier Friday, an amusing however flimsy sequel to the 2003 hit household movie, reuniting Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan for one more spherical of mother-daughter bonding and fish-out-of-water comedy. In contrast to Freaky Friday, which noticed their characters magically commerce locations, 4 girls swap our bodies this time as three generations come to grasp one another’s challenges and views. Late Night time director Nisha Ganatra brings a bighearted sincerity and various touching moments, and it’s a pleasure to see Lohan again in a serious big-screen position. However her charming efficiency can not compensate absolutely for a maybe unavoidably convoluted plot.

Lohan stays a full of life, witty presence

Disney unveils Freakier Friday within the UK and US on August 8, hoping that audiences will probably be hungry for a follow-up to a 22-year-old movie that grossed a sterling $161m worldwide, cementing the younger Lohan’s rising stardom. She and Oscar winner Curtis are joined by Julia Butters and Sophia Hammons, and this sequel may discover a heat reception with treasured little on the multiplex that caters primarily to feminine audiences. 

Anna (Lohan) is now all grown up, working as a high-powered Los Angeles music supervisor and elevating her teen daughter Harper (Butters) on her personal, though her intrusive mother Tess (Curtis) tries to assist as nicely. As Freakier Friday begins, she falls in love with Eric (Manny Jacinto), a celebrated UK chef whose snooty teen daughter Lily (Hammons) annoys Harper. However Anna and Eric resolve to get married, which disappoints their feuding youngsters who need nothing to do with each other. Then, after assembly with a medium, the 4 girls get up the following morning to find they’ve switched our bodies: Anna and Harper have swapped locations, and likewise so have Tess and Lily.

Primarily based on Mary Rodgers’ 1972 ebook, which was beforehand tailored right into a 1976 movie starring Jodie Foster and Barbara Harris, the 2003 Freaky Friday generated regular laughs from the sight of Curtis performing like a contemporary teen, whereas Lohan slyly embodied Anna’s extra mature mom. Freakier Friday raises the diploma of problem by doubling the variety of characters impacted by the mysterious spell. Consequently, the sequel’s plot is considerably extra intricate: Harper (as Anna) and Lily (as Tess) conspire to interrupt up their dad and mom’ relationship so they won’t turn into step-siblings, whereas Anna (as Harper) and Tess (as Lily) attempt to preserve the upcoming marriage ceremony on schedule.

Ganatra has demonstrated a knack for crowdpleasing, albeit shallow comedy with 2019’s Late Night time and 2020’s The Excessive Word. Those self same qualities seem right here because the filmmaker strikes the story alongside at an agreeable clip, even when Jordan Weiss’s script will get slowed down juggling Freakier Friday’s 4 principal characters — to say nothing of Eric, who’s unaware of what has occurred. A part of the sequel’s enjoyable comes from watching the filmmakers attempt to preserve all these narrative plates spinning as practically each scene entails one of many girls making an attempt to idiot somebody into pondering she is definitely the particular person she appears like. However the outcomes are pretty hit-or-miss, with some sequences endearing whereas others pressure for laughs.

Lohan hinted at her star potential with Freaky Friday: at 17, she was a poised comic in a position to navigate that movie’s emotional undercurrents whereas ably taking part in her character’s mom inside her daughter’s physique. Sadly, the actress was quickly derailed by tabloid scandals and dependancy, her profession imploding within the course of. Followers will probably be cheered, then, to be taught Lohan is likely one of the sequel’s highlights, this time portraying her wilful daughter inside Anna’s physique. There may be an simple meta factor to the humour as Lohan primarily switches generational locations along with her Freaky Friday self, and she or he stays a full of life, witty presence. A lot of Freakier Friday issues the youngsters realising features of their dad and mom that that they had by no means appreciated, and Lohan poignantly captures Harper/Anna’s change of coronary heart about her mother.

As Anna (inside Harper), Butters adeptly mimics Lohan’s mannerisms, channeling Anna’s anxious tics and self-help chatter. A few of the different performances could be too broad — Curtis mugs often as Lily (inside Tess), who’s horrified by how previous she is — however Freakier Friday’s good-natured sweetness helps paper over a few of these deficiencies. What’s harder to disregard is the story’s labyrinthine narrative issues, which hinder this sequel from conveying the straightforward, real sentiment that made the 2003 movie so affecting. Tears are shed and classes are discovered, however Freakier Friday is finally weighed down by its body-switch conceit somewhat than being remodeled by it.