Freakier Friday Review: Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan Reunite in a Forgettable Body Swap Sequel

Can Freakier Friday top or at least match the creative success of the first movie released twenty-two years ago? Besides, Freaky Friday is one of my favourites and among the best body swap comedies ever made, joining the likes of Big, 13 Going on 30 and even the underrated Dating the Enemy.

Huge parts of Freaky Friday‘s success lie in the memorable pairing of Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan, and not to forget, Mark Waters’ sprightly direction, who gamely mixes the body-swap comedy tropes with relatable themes of experiencing adulthood and teenagehood, and the generation gap, while delving into the mother-daughter dynamic.

Frankly, it was good enough as a one-off, but then again, the inevitable idea of a sequel came in around late 2022 before the development actively took place in 2024. So, it’s sad that Waters isn’t calling the shots for the sequel, but is being replaced by Late Night director Nisha Ganatra, with Jordan Weiss of last year’s Sweethearts solely in charge of the screenplay.

On paper, the story sounds promising: Celebrated psychiatrist Tess Coleman (Curtis) is still happily married with Ryan Volvo (Mark Harmon), while her now-older daughter Anna (Lohan), who used to be a guitarist for Pink Slip during her younger days, has since move on to managing a pop star, Ella (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan). She is also living a life as a single mum with her teenage daughter, Harper (Julia Butters).

Like Anna when she was younger, Harper is just as moody and rebellious as her mom and often has a tough time connecting due to their generational differences. At school, she doesn’t get along with her snobbish British classmate, Lily (Sophia Hammons), and if that’s not enough, things are about to change when Anna and Eric (Manny Jacinto), a chef and restaurant owner who also happens to be Lily’s single father, fall in love.

It doesn’t take long before they are getting married, where neither Harper nor Lily is excited about it. Harper hates the idea of having Lily as her soon-to-be stepsister, and the same also goes for the latter, who is more interested in flying back to London to pursue her studies in fashion design. The body swap eventually takes place, except this time, it has nothing to do with the namesake Chinese restaurant owner Pei-Pei’s (Rosalind Chao) nosy mother (Lucille Soong) giving out magical fortune cookies. Instead, it was the result caused by a mysterious fortune teller, Madame Jen (Vanessa Bayer).

Like the first movie, the familiar earthquakes happen, and the following morning, not only are Tess and Anna waking up with their bodies getting swapped, but the same thing happens to Harper and Lily. Tess is now Lily, while Anna is Harper. Harper, in the meantime, has swapped bodies with her mum, and Lily becomes Tess. Sounds like a whole lot of fun.

Well, if only that would be the case, but it turns out to be rather an uninspired mess. It’s not like Ganatra lacks trying here as she incorporates everything a body swap comedy should: situational humour, identity crisis and the chance for the actors to adopt different mannerisms and personalities of the other characters. Too bad the comedy is mostly a hit and miss, and I can’t help but notice the weirdly clunky editing choices, especially during the first half of the movie.

While I love the idea of four characters experiencing body swaps, it actually takes a while for me to remember who’s playing who. It’s nice to see Curtis and Lohan reunite in Freakier Friday. They try their best here, embracing the roles of embodying younger personalities (Lily and Harper) stuck in adult bodies. And yet, given the 22-year gap since Freaky Friday, I was expecting a more distinct way of seeing Curtis and Lohan, both of whom, respectively, coming from boomer and millennial generations, embracing the Gen Z sensibilities wholeheartedly.

Sure, there are moments of awkward fun, such as the one where Tess/Lily teaches Anna/Harper how to flirt with Jake (Chad Michael Murray, in an otherwise thankless role), who used to be Anna’s first love in the 2003 movie. But their characters somehow lack the same endearing magic seen in the first movie. Franchise newcomers Julia Butters and Sophia Hammons fare better playing the respective roles of Anna and Tess, trapped in the teenage bodies.

What makes Freaky Friday work so well is that Waters manages to strike a fine balance between humour in an extraordinary situation, with enough genuine heart and soul. I wish I could say the same for Freakier Friday, but the emotion here feels more manufactured. For all the ambition that could have translated into a worthy sequel, Freakier Friday is an inferior follow-up that tries to blend nostalgia callbacks with a fresh update, to mostly lacklustre results.