Freakier Friday leans into generational comedies and gains traction the longer it goes on, making it a wonderful sequel with never-ending chuckles.
Freakier Friday is the sequel to the 2003 film Freaky Friday. Crafting sequels decades later can be a coin toss. Sometimes they succeed in finding that sweet spot of nostalgia while resonating with current societal sentiments. Surprisingly, this movie manages to engage audiences despite a rocky start. As the story progresses, the characters become more lived-in with the body swaps. That’s where the film picks up. Freakier Friday leans into generational comedies and gains traction the longer it goes on, making it a wonderful sequel with never-ending chuckles.
Directed by Nisha Ganatra (The High Note, Late Night), and written by Jordan Weiss (Sweethearts), Elyse Hollander, and based on Mary Rodgers’ book Freaky Friday, the story follows the Coleman family, who are about to wind up in another body switcheroo. But now, instead of a mother/daughter body swap, it’s three generations of chaotic fun. It follows a similar vein to the first. There is a looming marriage that is the catalyst. It leans into a lot of current hilarity, and the cast does a wonderful job.
Freakier Friday Doubles the Laughs Thanks to the Cast
With Anna Coleman, played by Lindsey Lohan (Mean Girls, Freaky Friday), now an adult with a teenage daughter of her own, Harper, played by Julia Butters (The Fabelmans, The Gray Man). Her mom Tess, performed by Jamie Lee Curtis (The Bear, Halloween), makes sure to support Anna’s single parenting. Here, the body swap is far more hilarious as Anna switches with her daughter. But to make things extra dramatic and hilarious, Tess switches with Anna’s fiance’s daughter, Lily, played by Sophia Hammons (The Absence of Eden).
Lily’s father, Eric, played by Manny Jacinto (Balestra, The Acolyte), loves Anna. However, Lily cannot stand her stepsister Harper. In fact, their only common ground is ending their parents’ relationship. This leads to a lot of laughs and hilarious misunderstandings. Some of the cast do better delivering side-splitting hilarity. Naturally, Jamie Lee Curtis leads especially after the body swap with the stuffy Brit, Lily. Manny Jacinto is dynamite but it’s a shame audiences do not get more of him. (*Side note: I will never for give the toxic Star Wars fandom for causing The Acolyte to end after one season!)
Age Humor Still Slaps
Wacky shenanigans ensue with a focus on some age humor. It’s unsurprising because I distinctly remember as a teenager believing that thirty years old was ancient. That might be why so many of us struggle to enjoy our 30th birthday. So, Freakier Friday connects with the youth’s perspective of age, and the nostalgia for older people who recall that same sentiment.
The age conflict is where it shines. The adults take advantage of the youthful bodies they have to eat all the fattening, greasy, sweet food they want. Meanwhile, the kids in the adult bodies are trying to end the impending marriage. Plus they want to transform back before they die in a few short years (Lily’s belief). Some of the portrayals feel too immature. After all, these are teenage girls in adult bodies. But the same can be said of the first film.
Freakier Friday is a surprising sequel that balances the same kind of comedy without leaning into the more offensive aspects of the original. Instead of the fortune cookie nonsense, it’s a white woman with multi-hyphenate professions. Thanks to its awareness, the movie builds laughs but also unexpected emotional moments that touch on parents’ responsibility to their children and grief. Freakier Friday demonstrates how to craft a decades-later sequel that captures the magic of the first film while adapting its comedy to reflect a different era.
