Written by Elyse Hollander And Jordan Weiss
Directed by Nisha Ganatra
Madame Jen (to Anna/Tess): "You two have walked in each other's path. You learned a lesson. A lesson that may serve you again."
Disney and their sequels. A few years ago, Hocus Pocus 2 premiered on Disney+ and an update of Haunted Mansion died a quick death in theatres due to being unwisely released during the summer of Barbenheimer.
Now we've got a sequel to 2003 hit, Freaky Friday and it proved that past mistakes can be repeated and there's actually a solid way of further expanding on the body swapping premise. Why do it with two characters when you can have four characters swap bodies?
Once again, mother and daughter duo, Tess (Jamie Lee Curtis) and Anna Coleman (Lindsay Lohan) are the heart of this switcheroo but this time there's also Anna's tomboyish daughter, Harper (Julia Butters) and soon to be stepdaughter, Lily (Sophia Hammons).
With this movie, it's a fortune teller named Madame Jen (Vanessa Bayer) and the swaps are funnier. This time, both Anna and Harper swap bodies while Tess and Lily also swap bodies. As usual, both groups either dress up or down, try to improve the others while indulging in some sabotage.
In particular, both Harper and Lily are determined for Anna and Eric Reyes (Manny Jacinto) not to get married. There's an immigration interview they attempt to botch and then there's also the return of Anna's ex boyfriend Jake (Chad Michael Murray) but over twenty years, he's more interested in Tess than Anna.
I mean a lot of the same beats are revisited here from the first movie. Anna and Eric's engagement briefly got cancelled, there's a musical moment with the return of Pink Slip and Anna's client, Ella (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan), lessons are learned, bodies restored, family bonds are strengthened and a wedding took place.
- Other returning characters included Harry Coleman, Mr Bates, Pei Pei and Ryan Volvo. All of them played by the same actors.
- Elaine Hendrix also had a small role in this movie, so that was a nice mini reunion for The Parent Trap.
- Standout music: Chapel Roan's HOTTOGO, Spice Girl's Spice Up Your Life and Pink Slip's Take Me Away.
- Chronology: 2025 California. Both Eric and Lily were from London.
And just like that .... Freakier Friday actually worked great as a sequel. Yes, it replayed certain things but there was fun in seeing it happen again with Jamie Lee Curtis, Lindsay Lohan, Julia Butters and Sophia Hammons on great form. I really enjoyed this one.
Rating: 8 out of 10
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