Freakier Friday

Disney has adapted Mary Rodgers' novel Freaky Friday to film four times already. Some might remember the 1976 film with Jodie Foster & Barbara Harris but even more remember the 2003 take with Lindsay Lohan & Jamie Lee Curtis, the latter now has its own sequel. So, what happens in Freakier Friday?

It’s been years since Tess & Anna Coleman (Curtis & Lohan) had their Freaky Friday. These days, Tess is a successful podcaster and author, while Anna is a music producer and single mom to Harper (Julia Butters). Harper and her new classmate, the British Lily Reyes (Sophia Hammons), hate each other. The same can’t be said for Anna and Lily’s dad, Eric (Manny Jacinto); they’re about to marry after six months.

As the future stepsisters dread their lives together, they and the elder Colemans get separate seances with the eccentric Madame Jen (Vanessa Bayer). These seances instigate another Freaky Friday, where Anna switches with Harper, and Tess switches with Lily. As their elders go back to school, the stepsisters navigate the adult world. The girls also scheme to split their parents apart, which involves bringing in Anna’s High-School boyfriend Jake (Chad Michael Murray). Of course, things go wrong until they go right again. That’s pretty much it. 

This sequel only requires a tertiary knowledge of the first film's plot. If you haven't seen the first film, this one will give you enough context to know the returning supporting cast. Besides Jake, we have an antagonistic teacher (Stephen Tobolowsky's Mr. Bates), Anna's stepfather Ryan (Mark Harmon), and Anna's high-school bandmates Maddie & Peg (Christina Vidal Mitchell & Haley Hudson). Pei-Pei (Rosalind Chao), whose mother's (Lucille Soong) magic fortune cookies caused the previous body-swap, only appears during the fateful bachelorette party. But since they're uninvolved with a plot, something they point out, you won't feel lost if you don't recognize them.

Director Nisha Ganatra, who replaces the first film's Mark Waters, works with a script by Jordan Weiss & Elyse Hollander. There's plenty of hilarity as the four leading ladies work out their body-swap situation. It's kind of fortunate that they're kept in pairs following the switch, otherwise it might be way difficult to discern them all. Instead, it's slightly confusing. Anna-as-Harper and Tess-as-Lily goof around when they're not accidentally irritating "their" classmates (long story). Harper-as-Anna & Lily-as-Tess, however, get a pivotal subplot as they lend sympathetic ears to Ella (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan), one of Anna's clients. It's quite devastating when the breakup scheme succeeds, but again, it all ends well.

Of course, the four leading ladies' performances sell the body-swapping. As soon as they wake up, each pair feels like the other. I wasn't watching Lohan & Curtis as Anna & Tess; I was watching them as Harper-as-Anna & Lily-as-Tess. The same goes for Anna-as-Harper & Tess-as-Lily. Lohan gets believably silly when Harper-as-Anna tries to impress Jake (who, for his part, doesn't antagonize Eric). Curtis gets some of the best acted moments as Lily-as-Tess comes to terms with her late mom's death and realizes her selfishness. It's believably heartwarming when the "elder" Colemans connect with the "girls." Let's move on before it gets actually confusing.

What else does it have? When the body-swaps happen, everything spins around for a good while. It's quite dizzying, but it's also pretty impressive how seamless it all looks. For all I know, maybe it was done in-camera! Amie Doherty gives us a decent score, but you'll most likely remember the various pop songs on the soundtrack. A few highlights include Better Than the Last One, which is deliberately tasteless in context, and Baby, which is pivotal for Harper & Anna's reconciliation. Finally, we have a pretty likable supporting cast, with Eric & Ella being notable highlights. Particularly, Eric is sympathetic when he breaks up with Anna, while Ella is endearingly bathetic when she sulks over a breakup while dressed as a strawberry (long story?).

A lot of the jokes in Freakier Friday especially tickled the seniors in my audience. You won't need any body-switching to get their perspectives; there's something for everyone in this sequel. There's plenty of hilarity, yes, but there's plenty of resonant themes, too. This will surely join the first film on the watchlists of many a household in no time. You might see why if you check it out now.

BTW, did you know that the original novel had its own sequels? Two of them, A Billion for Boris and Summer Switch, actually have their own obscure film adaptations. Who knows if the third, Freaky Monday, might ever get considered for an adaptation? Are their legal issues involved?