“Freakier Friday” (2025) is the twenty-two years later sequel to “Freaky Friday” (2003), which adapted Mary Rodgers’ 1972 novel and was the third of four film adaptations of the novel, but is a wholly original concept unrelated to the book’s sequels. Most of the cast returned, but not the creative team behind the 2003 original, which means the sequel probably should have gone straight to streaming. Anna Coleman (Lindsay Lohan) decided to be a single mom. Thanks in part to her mom, Dr. Tess Coleman (Jamie Lee Curtis), Anna can raise surfer girl Harper (Julia Butters) and balance her career as manager to music sensation Ella (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan). When she meets the perfect man, chef and single father Eric Reyes (Manny Jacinto), wedding bells ring much to their daughters’ consternation because of a preexisting rivalry. Lily Reyes (Sophia Hammons) just wants to return to the United Kingdom and not become a part of this family. After Madame Jen (Vanessa Bayer) meets with Tess and Anna then Harper and Lily, all four swap bodies. What lessons do they need to learn to switch back?
Let’s mix up the good and bad news. Academy Award winner Curtis reprises her role as Dr. Coleman, and in addition to being a therapist and author, she is now a podcaster and pickle ball competitor with her partner on and off the court, Ryan (Mark Harmon). During the body switch, Lily possesses Dr. Coleman’s body. Curtis’ performance conveys more about Lily than Hammons did. Curtis expressed so much authentic, poignant emotion in a ridiculous scenario. She deserves better material. Most of the movie feels like a humiliation ritual with not one, but two photo shoots mostly wearing ridiculous outfits. In the first film, Dr. Coleman went from drab to Jamie Lee Curtis, which is often what Barbra Streisand does in her films. Curtis is definitely in on the joke, but most of the outfits are not glow ups though the blue, simple evening gown was nice. If it was not for Curtis leading breast first, that asymmetrical denim off the shoulder number could not be pulled off. Even if she was making fun of women her age who fight nature even to the point of distortion, it is low hanging fruit and is like a “Saturday Night Live” skit that goes on for far too long.
It was initially terrific to witness how Anna retained her younger personality and matured into a more healed version of Dr. Coleman in her version of gentle parenting. In addition, it was a delight to see Anna at work and reuniting with her childhood friends/former bandmates, Maddie (Christina Vidal) and Peg (Haley Hudson), who were lowkey my favorite part of “Freakier Friday.” I kind of wish that there was a sidequel devoted to Ladyslip with Maddie in the lead. Vidal’s cover of Lash’s “Take Me Away” still slaps and is arguably better than the original. Unfortunately, they also serve as a reminder of how laughably lacking in comparison all the present-day cinematic concert performances are. I really need filmmakers to go to actual concerts because real superstars act more like “Smile 2” (2024) on stage than “Trap” (2024) with Ramakrishnan having far better acting skills and stage presence than Saleka Shyamalan, but was underserved and downright kneecapped with a scenario that makes her look pathetic and another photo shoot that makes her the butt of the joke. I need everyone to watch “Unicorns” (2023) because Jason Patel has that superstar magnetism albeit inappropriate for the targeted middle school demographic.
Lohan may have been out of the game for awhile, but she had a chokehold on playing memorable characters in adolescent girl blockbusters from starring in the remake of “The Parent Trap” (1998), which this film borrows from shamelessly, “Mean Girls” (2004) and this movie’s predecessor. Once Lohan plays her on-screen daughter possessing her body, it becomes obvious that Harper and Lily are underwritten, and Lohan is doing a lot of heavy lifting for a personality that just is not there. The first movie established everyone’s routine and personality before the wackiness ensued.
Kendra and Lily are barely characters, and the film never treats them like three dimensional characters. Kendra likes surfing. Lily likes fashion design. What is their personality? Your guess is as good as mine. There is nothing about them that is instantly recognizable and replicable when the switch happens, which makes the movie overwhelming unwatchable despite Curtis, Lohan and many others paddling as furiously as possible to keep “Freakier Friday” afloat. Please let me know whether Butters and Hammons are the equivalent of Lohan back in the day. Here, they did their job and were forgettable. Whether they were playing their age-appropriate characters or their older counterparts, it was flat and did not feel even like the well-known, beloved characters.
The most annoying part of “Freakier Friday” is the retconning of Jake’s character. In the original, Jake was into Anna’s mind, which led him to fall for Anna while she was in her mother’s body, which confused Jake, but he switched his affections when everyone went back to normal. To be clear, I’m not into Murray though he is objectively attractive, but I am annoyed that Jake was diminished as a character for just having a crush on Dr. Coleman. Jake was a decent guy who presented as if he was a rebel, and now he is a punchline as a guy into older women, not souls. Mark Harmon was criminally underutilized.
In addition, only the younger characters had lessons to learn, which explains why they were the only ones who received the fortune, but Anna and Tess still needed to grow, and the movie feels incomplete with threads hanging. There was tension over Tess overstepping and not letting Anna parent Harper. Anna should have learned about why Harper wanted to stay in Los Angeles. It did feel as if Lily got the short end of the stick, and “Freakier Friday” will not serve stepchildren well with messaging that stepchildren need to just get over it and get super close to their stepfamily tout suite. What the frack?!?
One scenario involving immigration is already outdated and unlikely because we are in the worst timeline. It feels like it was a rip off to never see Trevor Travis, Ella’s ex, in real life, only on a movie marquee. There were a lot of supporting characters trying too hard, which made them unfunny in the extreme, but there were some standouts. Intense pickleball players, The V’s, Veronica (June Diane Raphael, who also rules in “Weapons”) and Vivian (Mary Sohn), were scene stealers from Curtis of all people! On a related note, Sherry Cola and George Wallace as the pickle ball commentators were inspired.
I loved the 2003 film, and “Freakier Friday” was not for me, but I am not the demographic. I was not the demographic for the first movie either, and I loved it. It appears that this entry is for people who just want a silly movie that requires zero thought. I only laughed hysterically out of panic during the second photo shoot when I realized that there was so much movie left, and it was never going to get better.
