PLOT: 22 years after Tess and Anna endured an identification disaster, Anna now has a daughter and a soon-to-be stepdaughter. As they navigate the challenges that come when two households merge, Tess and Anna uncover that lightning may strike twice.
REVIEW: A Legacy sequel to a remake feels like a sure sort of hell to me, particularly in 2025, but right here we’re. I noticed the Lohan/Curtis Freaky Friday in theaters means again in center college and thought it was a good sufficient household comedy. I wouldn’t say that it’s aged the very best, however it’s not a shock that they’re going again to this in spite of everything these years. A bit ironic on condition that Jamie Lee Curtis just about set off the Legacy Sequel development with 2018’s Halloween. However is that this sequel in a position to seize the enjoyable spirit that makes body-swapping motion pictures a very good time?
Freakier Friday follows a really related method to the primary movie, solely with the twist of including two extra folks to the body-switching shenanigans. Actually, almost each plot level is just a few sort of subversion of what we’ve already seen earlier than. Anna (Lohan) is now the one getting married, along with her daughter Harper (Butters) disapproving and considering she’s transferring too quick. It doesn’t assist that Anna’s fiancé, Eric (Jacinto), has a teen daughter, Lily (Hammons), who doesn’t get together with Harper in any means. I’m positive you may simply think about the wacky hijinks that might ensue. It’s a good setup whenever you’re coping with a physique swap film, however it may be a bit gradual within the first act, ready for the inevitable.
As soon as the physique change occurs, the movie livens up loads, and that’s the place the very best half comes into view: the performances. I’ll at all times get a kick out of actors attending to play a number of roles throughout the identical physique, and it’s very well achieved right here. Curtis and Butters, specifically, actually thrive of their respective roles and are very plausible of their approaches. Butters has at all times been sensible past her years, and that interprets extraordinarily properly right here. Lindsay Lohan, who has largely been relegated to Netflix RomComs in recent times, proves that she’s prepared to maneuver on to greater and higher. All 4 leads are affable and convey a sure attraction, even when their characters sort of suck (I’m you, Lily).
There are some enjoyable callbacks to the primary movie, the very best of which is Chad Michael Murray‘s Jake. His infatuation with older women (and Tess in particular) got some good laughs. It was also nice to see Mark Harmon back, even if he feels underused; he gets one good scene. In fact, damn near everyone is back here, and sometimes it works while other times it feels very awkward and forced. But at this point, that’s simply legacy sequels. Followers of the unique might be joyful, whereas others could also be a bit misplaced.
It’s sort of hilarious how little effort goes into the physique swap itself. And I suppose that might be mentioned of a lot of the script, which feels very sloppy all through. I get it: when you’re watching a Freaky Friday sequel, then you understand what you’re in for, however that doesn’t imply there can’t be somewhat little bit of effort in getting the characters the place they must be. As a substitute, we get free explanations and characters being forgotten about for lengthy durations of time. In the event that they do one other sequel, they desperately want to modify up the method and never simply do a whole rehash. And perhaps do some jokes that aren’t solely on the character’s expense.
Freakier Friday is much from a budget Disney Plus-style film that I had feared it will be. They’re in a position to nonetheless give this the big-screen therapy and do callbacks which can be drenched in nostalgia. However I can also’t placed on a entrance and fake that this film was for me in any means. Nonetheless, I may nonetheless respect the performances and what went into them. I can even acknowledge that there’s going to be a sect of people that grew up with the primary movie and need to see this continuation. Lohan/Curtis appear to be having a blast, and whereas I just about simply laughed twice, the very feminine viewers I noticed it with appeared to be loving it. Regardless of utterly missing in originality, it was inoffensive, and followers of the primary movie will doubtless have a very good time. I simply can’t think about this changing non-fans.
FREAKIER FRIDAY RELEASES TO THEATERS ON AUGUST 8TH, 2025.
