Freakier Friday
Review by Ryan Michael Painter
I saw Lindsay Lohan in an airport once. At that point, she was famous, but not quite infamous. I let her go about her life uninterrupted. I wonder what her life would have been like if the paparazzi did the same.
She’s not blameless, of course. Still, here I am 22 years after Freak Friday was released hoping for a comeback. Not that I was a fan of the original; I was squarely outside of its demographic in 2003. More so in 2025.
111 Minutes, Rated PG
Directed by Nisha Ganatra
Written by Jordan Weiss and Elyse Hollander, based on the book “Freaky Friday” by Mary Rodgers
Synopsis:
The story picks up years after Tess (Curtis) and Anna (Lohan) endured an identity crisis. Anna now has a daughter of her own and a soon-to-be stepdaughter. As they navigate the myriad challenges that come when two families merge, Tess and Anna discover that lightning might indeed strike twice.
When single-mother Anna falls in love with Eric, the widowed father of her daughter Harper’s rival classmate Lily, she finally sees the happy life she’s been striving for. Harper and Lily don’t share the same view of their impending future.
At Anna’s family-friendly bachelorette party an odd run in with Madame Jen, a hapless fortuneteller, sees Harper swap bodies with Anna, and Lily swapping with Tess, Harper’s grandmother.
Harper and Lily, decide that they will work together to sabotage their parent’s wedding. Meanwhile, Anna and Tess, decide to take advantage of their young metabolisms, fight the injustices of high school, and somehow keep the wedding on schedule.
There is a subplot dealing with a young pop star managed by Anna who is on the verge of a complete emotional breakdown on the eve of the opening night of her world tour. I’ll ignore commenting on this aspect of the film. It exists only to set up a performance from Pink Slip, the band Anna played guitar for in the original film.
Most of Freakier Friday is nonsense as it focuses almost entirely on the teenage characters’ anxieties. I don’t know why I expected the film to grow up with its stars and fans. Particularly not when it would be far easier and safer to simply make a silly romp that really doesn’t have much to say about anything. It might look like the perfect mommy/daughter date, but it has nothing beyond nostalgia and a touch of ageism for the mothers.
Performances are fine. I did spend most of the film feeling bad for Curtis. She deserves better than to constantly be flopping around on the floor trying to look sexy (or at least what a 14-year-old girl thinks sexy looks like).
The audience wasn’t as excited at the end of the film as they were going in. They laughed at the start, but there was little to no energy left in the room when the credits rolled. The blooper reel was more fun than the film itself.
Freakier Friday stars Jamie Lee Curtis, Lindsay Lohan, Julia Butters, Sophia Hammons, Manny Jacinto, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, Rosalind Chao, Chad Michael Murray, and Mark Harmonand will be released on August 8, 2025, in theaters nationwide.
And remember, if the BEST thing you can say about a movie is that it’s “visually stunning,” then they’ve done something wrong.
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