“Freakier Friday” Doesn’t Cash its Nostalgic Check
Nostalgia continues at the summer box office. This time, it’s the Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis-led Freaky Friday from 2003 that’s updated for the modern age. Ironically, the existence of the 2003 film could also be described as a decision fueled by nostalgia. That film was the fifth time the book of the same name by Mary Rodgers was adapted in some form. In fact, between 2003’s Freaky Friday and this new sequel, Freakier Friday, another adaption came about in 2018. For as long as there are parents and children, it seems there’s room for a Freaky Friday, but how does this latest installment stack up?
Curtis and Lohan reprise their roles as the mother and daughter duo of Tess and Anna Coleman. When we last saw them, Anna was a teenager struggling to accept Tess’ marriage to Ryan (Mark Harmon) after the death of Anna’s father. Back then, Anna was the rebellious, while Tess was the strict therapist mother. In Freakier Friday, the roles have been reversed. Anna has a teenage daughter of her own, Harper (Julia Butters), who has the same rebellious streak as her mother, while Tess is loving her role as the cool grandmother. Their little world is upended when Anna meets Eric (Manny Jacinto), who turns out to be the father of Lily (Sophia Hammons), a girl at school who Harper cannot stand. Now, with the wedding of Anna and Eric on the horizon, there’s another body swap in the Coleman household. Anna and Harper swap, and Tess and Lily swap as well. Anna and Tess want to get back to their bodies as fast as possible, but the girls see this as an opportunity to make sure the wedding doesn’t happen.
Courtesy of Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
There are moments of Freakier Friday that capture the early 2000s magic of its predecessor. Freaky Friday had a bit of a lightning-in-a-bottle quality to it. Lohan was at the height of her popularity, while Curtis was clearly enjoying the opportunity to be silly and weird. Similar things can be said about Freakier Friday. There’s a clear love the actors have for each other, and the viewer can even see Lohan almost break in a few scenes as Curtis relishes the chaos of pretending to be a teenager once again. Banking on nostalgia sometimes works, as in Chad Michael Murray’s return as Jake. One of the most inspired choices of the entire film is the fact that they really doubled down on Jake’s flirting with Tess from the first film. He has no interest in Anna anymore, but, given the chance, he’d marry Tess in a second. It’s funny and it works to capture what made the original film special. Perhaps the best part of Freakier Friday, though, is the reunion of one of the greatest bands to never exist - Pink Slip.
Courtesy of Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Like many nostalgia-driven works before it, Freakier Friday feels like a series of funny ideas cooked up to maximize humor without much concern for the connective tissue that takes the story from hijinx to hijinx. For some, it’s enough to hang out with these characters again. To find joy in their misadventures and jokes at the expense of young and old alike. There’s also briefly something beautifully conveyed here about grief, widowhood, and single parenting. The most genuine moments of the film come toward the end, when all hope seems lost, and Eric and Lily open up about how profoundly they miss the woman who used to be a part of their family. This moment, though, comes after a whole lot of insincerity. Every scene is perfectly manufactured, and that creates a hollow sheen. It’s as though concern was placed on evoking the goodwill of the original and not creating a wholly unique adventure for the Coleman family.
Freakier Friday isn’t the most egregious example of nostalgia-baiting, and the number of returning actors who came eager to play is a sign that Freaky Friday was something special. It can be hard to return to that height, but it does feel as though everyone involved in the new film made a valiant effort. In the end, that’s all we can ask.
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