Movie Review: Freakier Friday

Although one might find themselves skeptical when going into the comedy Freakier Friday expecting a retread of the 2003 film that starred Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan as a mother and daughter who switched bodies just before her widowed mother remarried, there is a lot more at stake this go around, and the payoff proves equally as grand.

It has been twenty-two years since the successful remake of the 1976 film Freaky Friday was released. That same period has passed for the characters of the 2003 film. Now, Anna’s daughter, and soon-to-be stepdaughter are at odds over the potential blending of their two families. The familial schism results in repetition of the body-switching experience that Tess and Anna endured in the first film. This causes Anna (Lindsay Lohan) to switch bodies with her daughter Harper (Julia Butters) as well as her school nemesis Lily (Sophia Hammons) swapping with Tess (Jamie Lee Curtis), just days before Anna’s marriage to Harper’s father Eric (Manny Jacinto) is set to take place.

Working from a script by Jordan Weiss – who previously wrote and directed 2024’s Sweethearts – director Nisha Ganatra (The High Note [2020] and Late Night [2019]) assumes directing duties from Mark Waters (who helmed the 2003 remake) and the pair deliver a non-stop comedic roller coaster that not only elaborates on the journey of the characters since the first film, but allows them to grow even further this time.

While the body switch itself delivers the typical “oh my god I’m old” moments from the younger cast members, it also quickly moves past those to focus on more pressing issues such as successfully blending this now dysfunctional family. That is where the film outshines it predecessor in that there is some actual character growth at work here as all four women come to terms with the current state of their lives and how best to move forward with them.

Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan in “Freakier Friday.” Photo by Glen Wilson – © 2025 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Of course, there are several scenes of Tess and Anna, now inhabited by Lily and Harper, acting like children trapped in adult bodies and vice versa, but they are played logically and never allowed to go on for too long. Similarly, the denouement and subsequent conclusion are arrived at organically and that makes for a far more entertaining piece than it might have been otherwise.

Additional appearances by characters from the first film, such as Pei-Pei (Rosalind Chao), her mother (Lucille Soong), Ryan (Mark Harmon), Jake (Chad Michael Murray), and Mr. Bates (Stephen Tobolowsky) give the film a through line to the first film that allows a seamless transition from the past to the present.

Despite the possibility of diminishing returns when faced with the inevitable sequel to an admired property, the long-awaited follow-up to Freaky Friday, appropriately titled Freakier Friday, proves to be a more nuanced and intricate story than its predecessor that delivers a solid tale of family unification while reconciling the often-misunderstood relationships between generations.

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Mike Tyrkus

Editor in Chief at CinemaNerdz.com

An independent filmmaker, co-writer and director of over a dozen short films, the Editor in Chief of CinemaNerdz.com has spent much of the last three decades as a writer and editor specializing in biographical and critical reference sources in literature and the cinema, beginning in February 1991 reviewing films for his college newspaper. He was a member of the Detroit Film Critics Society, as well as the group's webmaster and one-time President for over a decade until the group ceased to exist. His contributions to film criticism can be found in Magill's Cinema Annual, VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever (of which he was the editor for nearly a decade until it too ceased to exist), the International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, and the St. James Film Directors Encyclopedia (on which he collaborated with editor Andrew Sarris). He has also appeared on the television program Critic LEE Speaking alongside Lee Thomas of FOX2 and Adam Graham, of The Detroit News. He currently lives in the Detroit area with his wife and their dogs.

@miketyrkus

Mike Tyrkus

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