Is it the summer time of comedy legacyquels? Between Joyful Gilmore 2, The Bare Gun reboot and now, Freakier Friday, it actually looks like it. And I don’t find out about you, however I’ve been laughing much more currently as a result of this development.
Freakier Friday
Launch Date: August 8, 2025
Directed By: Nisha Ganatra
Written By: Jordan Weiss
Starring: Jamie Lee Curtis, Lindsay Lohan, Julia Butters, Sophia Hammons, Manny Jacinto, Mark Harmon, Chad Michael Murray, Vanessa Bayer, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan Score: PG for thematic parts, impolite humor, language and a few suggestive references
Runtime: 111 minutes
Regarding the newest of them, I’ve been anticipating Freakier Friday with trepidation ever because it was introduced. The 2003 authentic Disney comedy is a staple of my childhood, and once I look again on the authentic, I feel it’s actually one of many funniest household comedies of my era. Now that I’ve seen the sequel, I’m so completely happy it really lives as much as it.
Freakier Friday reunites Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan at a time when each actors are having their very own huge (however very totally different) moments in comparison with after they first swapped our bodies. Curtis turned an Oscar winner simply a few years in the past on the age of 64, and the 39-year-old Lohan has been having fun with a comeback into Hollywood after nearly a decade away from the trade. Nevertheless it’s extremely comforting to see these two come collectively and never miss a beat as they return to their roles as Tess and Anna Coleman: a mom and daughter who, like most mom/daughter duos, will all the time have points to work by means of. It’s a blast to see them again at it once more for a extra rambunctious, but completely seasoned comedy dynamic that I may also see a complete new era of younger women falling for.
In the event you’re a fan of the unique Freaky Friday, Freakier Friday is totally for you.
One can’t assist however do a double-take in terms of the premise, as Lohan’s Anna is now a mom of her personal teen, Julia Butters’ Harper, and she or he is on the point of tie the knot to her personal Mr. Good a.ok.a. Eric (performed by The Good Place’s Manny Jacinto) after Freaky Friday was about Curtis’ Tess getting married to Mark Harmon’s Ryan. This time round, there’s an added layer as a result of Anna’s fiancé has a teen daughter too in Sophia Hammons’ Lily – and the sisters-to-be actually do not get alongside.
After grandma Tess, Anna, Harper and Lily all get their fortune learn at Anna’s bachelorette celebration, Tess will get caught in Lily’s physique, Anna in her daughter’s, Harper in her mother’s and Lily in Tess’. Callbacks are a-plenty between a brand new mirror scene to rival the “I’m just like the crypt-keeper” line and nearly each solid member from the unique making an look someway. (Sure, even Anna’s all-grownup little brother!) Butters and Hammons aren’t featured within the film as a lot as Lohan and Curtis are, however seeing all 4 of them collectively is definitely an excellent welcome addition to the plot, they usually have some actually humorous and heartfelt moments of their very own.
Freakier Friday finds some fairly hilarious causes to take followers again down reminiscence lane whereas offering a brand new story that feels worthwhile. Positive, in case you weren’t impressed with the unique Freaky Friday, I will guess the brand new one in all probability gained’t reel you in both. This sequel is for followers like me who laughed out loud time after time watching the unique, respect the small print, and now get to take action once more in a totally new section of life with this continuation.
I really like seeing what Tess is like as a grandma and the way Anna has develop into much more like her mother in maturity than she in all probability would have guessed. (However turning into our dad and mom comes for us all, would not it?) The way in which the plot strains are superior are moderately intelligent.
The sequel isn’t fairly as punk rock as the unique (particularly because of the extra sophisticated premise), however the film’s coronary heart is simply too huge for that to be a problem.
The Freakier Friday script isn’t essentially sleek in terms of organising the stakes for the sequel, however as soon as issues get freaky one honest Friday and Tess, Anna, Harper and Lily cope with one other body-swap curse, the film will get proper on observe. Whereas it’s all about stomach laughs within the first half, what actually helps land the body-swap sequel is the film’s real soul. I used to be nearly wiping away my tears throughout not one however a number of emotional scenes after getting right into a laughing match simply half-hour earlier, and that’s precisely the type of feeling I needed from this film.
One in every of Freakier Friday‘s secret weapons is Manny Jacinto’s Eric – who could also be recognized for doling out jokes in The Good Place, however on this film as Anna’s new man, he brings a down-to-earth high quality to the movie (alongside his fairly heartthrobb-y charms) that Harmon held down within the authentic. In some ways, Freakier Friday can really feel like a romantic comedy flipped on its head, and it does so with a beaming confidence.
One other very welcome return in Freakier Friday is Chad Michael Murray’s Jake, who had a hilarious body-swap love triangle of kinds happening with Tess and Anna within the first film. The sequel performs swiftly with that component in a hilariously plausible and lovelably foolish method that breathes further life into the movie. After which there’s Vanessa Bayer’s fortune teller character, who brings her SNL wiles to the solid, and makes each scene she is in funnier than the final.
Director Nisha Ganatra efficiently helps convey the spirit of the unique again with different nice comedy expertise beneath her belt, from helming 2019’s Late Night time to doing episodes of Brooklyn 9-9, Contemporary Off The Boat and The Mindy Mission. However, there’s one thing that may be a little bit tough across the edges in regards to the Mark Waters-directed authentic that’s considerably lacking right here. For instance, Anna’s punk rock section is over, as she now helps handle a pop star (performed by Maitreyi Ramakrishnan), and the soundtrack has a extra pop girly framework to it, taking part in the likes of Chappell Roan and Suki Waterhouse. Nonetheless, there are additionally some enjoyable music decisions from women-fronted rock bands, together with The Linda Lindas and The Seashores.
There’s additionally a brand new Lindsay Lohan music “Child,” which falls into the pop ballad territory. It is smart given we’re at a time when female-fronted acts are much more hip then they have been in 2003, however the brand new music is not going to hit the degrees “Final” and “Take Me Away” had on my childhood. Maybe the film is aware of this, and fortunately it provides one of many songs an encore within the sequel. I used to be cheering on the sight of seeing Lohan again in Pink Slip, and sure, she nonetheless does that superior guitar solo prefer it was yesterday.
Freakier Friday wins as a theatrical comedy for the entire household at a time after they simply don’t exist anymore.
General, there’s actually some generic filmmaking decisions right here that might have used a bit extra umph. However we’re additionally speaking about one of many few theatrical household comedies we’ve seen in film theaters in a while. With that factored in, I’m actually impressed it’s filled with a ton of soul as it’s. This isn’t high-brow territory, however Jamie Lee Curtis operating round Los Angeles in ridiculous teenage-geared outfits with Lindsay Lohan making an attempt to inform her to flirt is one in all my spotlight moments going to the films this 12 months, and I do know I will not be the one one.
In the case of the unique Freaky Friday, I all the time discovered that Jamie Lee Curtis attending to embody a youngster had all of the enjoyable, while a younger Lohan impressively performed the straight-laced Tess in a teen physique. This time round, each actresses get to play youngsters collectively, as Anna’s daughter and Eric’s daughter get caught of their our bodies and resolve to attempt to break up their guardian’s upcoming marriage, and it’s merely a ball to see these two get into humorous situations that additionally stay well-fitted for its PG, family-friendly score.
Curtis is as soon as once more the actual scene-stealer right here, taking part in an much more unhinged function as a prim and correct British teen caught in a grandmother’s physique, whereas Lohan will get to each evolve for the current day and supply the nostalgia of embodying a teen once more. With this new dynamic, Freakier Friday can also be type of a buddy comedy in a whole lot of methods, and that was completely the suitable transfer for followers like me who need to see extra of the Freaky Friday magic.
At a time when different Disney sequels for Hocus Pocus, Disenchanted went straight to streaming and the studio has been caught in live-action retreads after retreads the previous few years, this can be a uncommon legacyquel I’m not rolling my eyes at. It has the type of fan service I am in search of, and I am already wanting ahead to a second viewing.