movie review freaky friday

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• DVD & Streaming

Freaky Friday

Content caution.

In Theaters

• Jamie Lee Curtis as Dr. Tess Coleman; Lindsay Lohan as Anna Coleman; Harold Gould as Grandpa; Chad Murray as Jake; Mark Harmon as Ryan

Home Release Date

• Mark Waters

Distributor

• Disney/Buena Vista

Movie Review

Native Americans have a saying, “If you want to understand my world, walk a mile in my moccasins.” Although never quoted directly, this proverb provides the foundation for Freaky Friday —with a twist. Take two very different people. Have them not only swap footgear, but trade entire bodies. Watch the sparks fly … then the empathy … and eventually the bonding.

Dr. Tess Coleman is a workaholic, psychiatrist who’s just days away from her wedding (her first husband died years earlier). Her somewhat wild and flamboyant (teenage) daughter, Anna, is a guitarist/vocalist for a garage rock band called Pink Slip (think Avril Lavigne meets No Doubt). The group has been given a big break—a chance to perform at the House of Blues. However, Pink Slip’s time slot coincides with Mom’s rehearsal dinner. Big problem! Although deep down, Tess and Anna care for each other, both are so absorbed in their own little worlds that compromise and reason are out of the question. So they argue, take relational shortcuts and have all but canceled genuine communication. It’s easier for Tess to remove Anna’s bedroom door as a punishment than talk to her. It’s easier for Anna to shut out Tess’ fiancé than to get to know him.

Enter the owner of a Chinese restaurant who overhears mother and daughter bickering. She employs a bit of magic—via fortune cookies—that initiates a body swap at the stroke of midnight. Of course, after waking the next morning, Tess and Anna are both appalled by their transformation. Anna is anguished over being “old.” Tess stresses about how Anna (in her body) is going to handle her patients. Both worry about how to change back.

At first, empathy is overshadowed by selfishness. Anna “treats” her mother’s body to a new haircut and wardrobe compliments of Mom’s credit cards. Tess, in Anna’s body, tries to mend a rift with a rival, unconcerned about possible social consequences. While predictable, there are lots of laughs as the pair navigate—and eventually learn about—each other’s ups and downs, life and loves.

positive elements: When any individual takes the time to walk in someone else’s shoes, growing closer is inevitable. In Freaky Friday , it’s not a deliberate decision—it just happens. But the results are positive as the mother-daughter battling eventually evolves into mother-daughter appreciation. It’s expected. But still sweet and tender. When Tess’ fiancé, Ryan, believes he is entering not only a marriage, but a relationship that involves an entire family (with a future step-daughter who is less than thrilled about it) he’s admirably willing to call it off.

spiritual content: Anna refers to her mother’s outfit as “cute … if you’re selling Bibles!” The implication is, obviously, that Bible sellers (and readers?) are socially inept. The fortune cookie-powered body swap is said to work because of “Asian voodoo.” Tess is briefly featured in a yoga pose, meditating while doing her nails.

sexual content: In Tess’ body (with a rear camera angle), Anna is seen pulling up her pants over thong underwear. Tess, in her daughter’s body, briefly grabs her breasts and backside when she discovers the body swap, declaring, “That’s not mine—these are definitely not mine!” (A similar scene takes place toward the movie’s end.) In Tess’ body, Anna listens to a patient worrying that her daughter may be “doing it” (fortunately, it’s a concern!). Anna (in Tess’ body) autographs a fan’s derrière. Following the body swap, high school heartthrob Jake inexplicably begins to neglect Anna (who is really Tess now) in favor of spending time with her mom (who is now Anna). He’s clueless about the swap, so watching Mom’s body riding around on the back of his motorcycle while hugging him endearingly raises the cringe factor a bit. Taunting her, Anna’s little brother wraps one of her bras around his clothed chest. Anna retaliates by pulling a pair of underwear over his head. Several women wear low-cut dresses. On a more positive note, Tess rebukes Anna for dressing like “a little harlot.”

violent content: Distracted while driving, Tess has a minor wreck that deploys an airbag. Anna deliberately decks a rival teammate while serving a volleyball. Tess (in Anna’s body) knocks a guy into a tree to silence a serenade. Tess’ fiancé verbally (although not seriously) threatens Grandpa (“Don’t make me hurt you”).

crude or profane language: God’s name is misused a handful of times. For Anna, a lot of things are said to “suck,” while other coarse phrases and profanities pop up only occasionally (“We’re screwed!,” “I’m gonna barf,” “h—“).

drug and alcohol content: The rehearsal dinner features an open bar and it’s assumed adults consume as part of the festivities. But drinking is not showcased or glamorized.

other negative elements: Tess allows Anna to talk back to her—sometimes while yelling. While it allows viewers to understand their degree of separation, it’s unnerving. Harry disrespectfully refers to his grandfather as an “old fart” and teases him about being scared of a perceived-as-real earthquake. Anna and Jake agree that the Hives are “awesome.” (This is a band that in real life isn’t squeaky clean. Lyrics include, “I got a greeting, can’t say what it’s all about, but my middle finger is gonna carry it out.”) Anna declares, “I hate teachers.” In some instances, lies are told rather than divulge the body swap (e.g., Anna says she’s been looking for an earring when she’s actually been chatting with Jake). Inside Anna’s body, Tess discovers her daughter has had her belly button pierced without permission.

conclusion: Trading bodies is not a new concept to Hollywood. Besides the original Freaky Friday (1976), films such as 18 Again , Like Father Like Son and Prelude to a Kiss have all gone there. Therefore, most viewers will have the plot nailed within the first 10 minutes: Mother and daughter are growing apart. Abracadabra. Switcheroo. Then they realize the error of their ways. Switch back. Instant bonding. But it’s neither suspense nor surprise that make this film work. It’s observing how a 15-year-old girl suddenly transformed into an adult professional on the brink of matrimony handles 24 hours of motherhood. And likewise, it’s watching a fortysomething psychiatrist/writer instantly become a rock guitarist (albeit without the talent) and re -handle a day of high school. It’s cheesy, but it works. And while there are a few content molehills, there are no mountains.

What Freaky Friday delivers is a wealth of after-the-movie discussion items without wading through things that often trip up teen films (strong sexuality, nudity, gratuitous violence, vulgarity, etc.). For instance: “Since no one can really swap bodies, how can people—especially of different generations—empathize and ultimately better understand each other’s differences?” Even the caveats are worth dialoging about. “Is there power in fortune cookies/voodoo? Or is this just Hollywood?” I would also suggest some discourse about appropriate means of expressing frustration within a family without resorting to the Tess-Anna way. Sharing shelf space with The Princess Diaries and What a Girl Wants, Freaky Friday isn’t Oscar material or brilliant filmmaking, but it’s funny, generally clean and pro-family.

Bob Waliszewski

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Freaky Friday (2003)

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Freaky Friday Review

19 Dec 2003

Freaky Friday

Besides the obligatory wiseacre kid brother, no teen flick is complete these days without the ingenue performing a music promo.

So this body swap fairy tale climaxes in a band audition at Hollywood's House Of Blues. Happily, Jamie Lee Curtis gurning through a guitar solo (she is Lady Spinal Tap, after all) while her floundering 'mother' mimes on stage is amusing - as is this amiable wheeze in general. Adapted from Mary Rodgers' juvenile classic of comedic life lessons, it's a sensible update of the 1976 Jodie Foster version, in which a girl not knowing how to operate a washing machine was as wacky as it got.

Now Mom, in her daughter's guise, tackles school bullying and young lurve - taking an excruciating turn when the boy is drawn to the older woman - while the teen-as-mother has fun with Mom's psychiatric patients, fending off her amorous fiance and endangering the wedding.

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Review: freaky friday.

It’s refreshing to find a quaint comedy extolling the virtues of thoughtful consideration and selfless love this pleasantly entertaining.

As if to suggest that we’re in for little more than a gratingly contemporary interpretation of a timeless hit, the new Freaky Friday begins with the bouncy melody of the Turtles’s “Happy Together” morphing into a cacophonous pop-punk version of the song, followed soon after by the unwelcome appearance of a guitars-and-drums cover of Britney Spears’s “…Baby One More Time.” But while both of these feedback-enhanced sonic renditions fail to replicate the originals’ guilty-pleasure charms, the same cannot be said for Mark S. Waters’s updated version of Disney’s 1976 classic starring Barbara Harris and Jodie Foster as a mother and daughter who, through a stroke of magic, wind up switching bodies for a day. A jovial old-fashioned family comedy thankfully devoid of crass bodily-function jokes or cartoonish perverts, the film strives for straightforward, mild good fun, and—unlike the torturous body-swapping ’80s comedies Like Father, Like Son and Vice Versa —proves exceptionally adept at delivering the goods. Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan play the antagonistic mother-daughter duo forced to endure a hectic day literally walking in the other’s shoes. Curtis’s Tess Coleman is primed to marry blandly appealing Ryan (Mark Harmon) in two days, while Lohan’s Anna is struggling to deal with a snooty cheerleader classmate, her pesky little brother Harry (Ryan Malgarini), and her rock band’s big audition, which just happens to be on the same night as mom’s rehearsal dinner. After a Chinese restaurateur’s meddling mother gives Tess and Anna enchanted fortune cookies that compel them (against their will) to swap corporeal vessels—a strange bit of “Oriental mysticism” stereotyping that seems at odds with the film’s thematic focus on tolerance and understanding—the two acclimate themselves to their new situation by splitting up and going about the other’s daily routines. Tess returns to high school to straighten out her daughter’s prejudiced teacher and wild friends while Anna gives her mom’s aging façade a benign 21st-century makeover (no trendy tattoos, just an ear piercing and a haircut) and dishes out some straight talk to her neurotic therapy patients. Although the script turns Curtis’s Anna and Lohan’s Tess into slightly exaggerated caricatures—Curtis employs the word “dude” more habitually than any teen would dare—both actresses’ willingness to gamely embarrass themselves for the sake of humor makes it easy to ignore the contrived obstacles concocted by the film’s somewhat overstuffed script. In a dreadful summer of obnoxiously aggressive and empty sequels, it’s refreshing to find a quaint comedy extolling the virtues of thoughtful consideration and selfless love this pleasantly entertaining.

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"Freaky Friday" - Movie Review

• Holly McClure Movie Reviewer
• Updated Aug 07, 2007

Genre:   Comedy

Rating:   PG (for mild thematic elements and some language)

Release Date:   August 6, 2003

Actors:   Jamie Lee Curtis, Lindsay Lohan, Mark Harmon, Chad Murray, Stephen Tobolowsky

Director:   Mark S. Waters

Special Notes: Originally, Annette Bening was cast as the mother with Tom Selleck as her fiancé, and Kelly Osbourne (MTV's "The Osbournes") had signed on to play the teenage daughter's best friend.

Plot:   Dr. Tess Coleman (Jamie Lee Curtis) is a widow who's about to get married (Mark Harmon) but wants her fifteen-year-old daughter Anna's (Lindsay Lohan) approval. The two are having problems agreeing on clothes, music and just about everything else. One night the family goes to a restaurant where Anna and Tess are given a fortune cookie. The next thing they know – they've switched bodies. Time is running out as Tess realizes her wedding is approaching and Anna obviously doesn't want to be the bride inside her mother's body.

Bad:   Several characters have varying degrees of attitude and disrespect for adults. There are mature issues discussed about a step-dad replacing a real dad, remarriage, playing in a band, etc. and some imitative behavior (since they are obviously switching roles). Mild language and a few crude remarks, as well as a few religious exclamations make this PG movie for older kids only and not for little ones because of the adult issues and situations.

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Freaky friday.

• Parents say (24)
• Kids say (54)

Based on 24 parent reviews

Could do w/o the tired orientalism

Report this review, some inappropriate content.

This title has:

• Great messages
• Great role models

A Rollicking Good Time

Not what i expected, bad, boring, and harmless.

• Too much consumerism

Holds Up Quite Well

Funny (but beware stereotypes of asian characters).

Movie Review: Freaky Friday

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Based on Mary Rodgers’s 1972 children’s novel of the same name, Disney’s Freaky Friday was theatrically released on January 21, 1977. The live action fantasy-comedy is ninety-eight minutes in length. A remake of Freaky Friday starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan was theatrically released on August 6, 2003.

Plot Summary

On a Friday the 13 th in a 1970s suburban middle-class household, Mrs. Andrews (Barbara Harris) struggles to deal with her rebellious thirteen-year-old daughter, Annabel (Jodie Foster). Mrs. Andrews is perturbed with Annabel’s messiness and her constant complaining about her difficult life at school, while Annabel, for her part, cannot see how maintaining a household, which also features a husband (John Astin), a young son, Ben (Sparky Marcus), and a dog, Max, can cause anybody stress. Their usually stark differences of opinion notwithstanding, mother and daughter agree on one key point: they wish they could switch places such as to prove how easy the other’s life is. The simultaneous wishes are promptly granted, setting the stage for a surreal tutorial in empathy. Will Annabel and Mrs. Andrews enjoy a carefree day in the other’s body, or will the old saying “Be careful what you wish for” prevail?

Although Disney never created a sequel to Freaky Friday , the final scene provides an excellent lead for another film.

The overt theme of Freaky Friday is empathy, the ability to put oneself in another person’s shoes. Annabel cannot comprehend the difficulties related to her mother’s various duties until she becomes her mother, and Mrs. Andrews cannot imagine how difficult her teenage daughter’s days at school can be until she (re)enters the classroom.

On a related note, after switching places with her mom, Annabel sees her usual personal relationships from a different angle, realizing that her easygoing father is actually a domineering husband and that her seemingly perfect and annoying little brother is actually pretty cool.

Freaky Friday commences with a lyrical number, appropriately titled “I’d Like to Be You for a Day,” played against animated backdrops of a mother and a daughter imagining themselves in the other’s shoes. The song is smooth and catchy if not especially memorable. Considering that it is featured in a non-musical film, the song is a good effort.

Later, a whimsical tune nicely accompanies a baseball game featuring Annabel and Ben, a soothing number does the same for a segment where Mrs. Andrews transforms Annabel’s looks from those of a tomboy to those of a traditional young lady, and a zany number accompanies the scenes immediately after Annabel and Mrs. Andrews reenter their own bodies. Let’s just say that the latter scenes feature baptism by fire, or, in the case of Mrs. Andrews, baptism through fire…on water skis!

The relationships among the Andrews family members are amusingly introduced, with Annabel using colloquial language to describe her younger brother and father, and Mr. Andrews misinterpreting everything his wife says, or else unsuccessfully trying to ignore her. For example, when Mrs. Andrews reveals that she has to meet with Annabel’s principal to discuss their daughter’s poor grades and asks her husband “what he thinks of that,” he responds, “I’m sure you can handle it dear,” emphasizing the conference rather than Annabel’s situation.

After the great switch, Annabel, in her mother’s body, follows Mr. Andrews out the door on a skateboard, while Mrs. Andrews, in Annabel’s body, lectures her daughter’s friends.

Mrs. Andrews causes a scene on the bus by diving on the floor to recover change that was stored in her daughter’s sock—stinky!—before shouting words of disbelief to herself. An agitated passenger accurately surmises the problem: “there’s something wrong with [Annabel’s] noggin,” or at least there is something different about its contents.

Annabel has some issues working the washing machine. Oh no; she’s gonna blow! Indeed, simultaneously dealing with a phone call and an exploding washing machine while chewing bubble gum is not as easy as Annabel might have imagined…though her mother might have used less detergent.

While Annabel causes the washing machine to explode, Mrs. Andrews causes an explosion in her daughter’s typing class by plugging in a faulty machine.

If the aforementioned problems were insufficient to cause Annabel and Mrs. Andrews to regret their wishes, experiencing an onslaught of hostile house visitors and mean teachers and classmates will do the trick!…Oh man; where did the Genie hide that magic lamp?

The Andrews’ neighbor Boris Harris (Marc McClure), who hates Annabel because of an incident on the playground four years earlier, utters several funny lines. Harris surmises that his chronic nasal congestion might arise from “an allergy to [his] mother,” and when Annabel, in Mrs. Andrews’s body, tries to convince Harris that she has changed and is now “extremely nice,” Harris responds, “To be perfectly frank, that’s not saying much.” Ouch!

The opposing field hockey coach (Ruth Buzzi) exudes poor sportsmanship during the big game, encouraging her players to “get Annabel Andrews and get her good!” As such, Mrs. Andrews is thrust into a game more akin to fencing than to field hockey. The game is, unfortunately or otherwise, not well officiated either; actually, it is not officiated at all.

While Annabel scores the winning run in Ben’s baseball game, Mrs. Andrews scores the winning goal in the field hockey game! Unfortunately, Mrs. Andrews scores into her own net, so the other team wins.

Relationship to Other Disney Films

Freaky Friday was the third of five Disney films to feature Jodie Foster, after Napoleon and Samantha (1972) and One Little Indian (1973), and before Candleshoe (1977) and Flightplan (2005). (1)

Freaky Friday was the last of seven Disney films to feature Dick Van Patten. Van Patten, who portrayed Mr. Andrews’s assistant boss, Harold Jennings, in Freaky Friday , had previously appeared in Snowball Express (1972), Superdad (1973), The Strongest Man in the World (1975), Treasure of Matecumbe (1976), Gus (1976), and The Shaggy D.A. (1976) for the studio.

The shifting of minds and bodies also occurred in The Shaggy Dog (1959) and The Shaggy D.A. .

The unspoken thoughts of Mrs. Andrews and Annabel while in the other’s body are voiced to the audience by Barbara Harris and Jodie Foster. Such a voicing of thoughts also occurs in Escape to Witch Mountain (1975) and Return from Witch Mountain (1978).

In the Parks

Although soaring through a ring of fire on water skis like Mrs. Andrews does in Freaky Friday is not an option, guests at Walt Disney World can partake in various water sports, including waterskiing, on Seven Seas Lagoon and Bay Lake. Reservations can be made at the Sammy Duvall’s Watersports Centre in the Contemporary Resort.

Amusing and thought provoking, Freaky Friday is solid family entertainment.

1) Smith, D. (2012). Live-Action Films. In Disney Trivia from the Vault: Secrets Revealed and Questions Answered (p. 131). New York: Disney Editions.

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Freaky Friday Reviews

Freaky Friday is pleasant entertainment for matinees, but its anchor of salvation comes in the form of the two excellent actrices. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Aug 15, 2023

The movie manages to make the personality switch mildly effective. And the actresses are so accomplished that it's a pleasure to watch them going through fairly predictable material.

Full Review | Jul 9, 2019

Now Barbara Harris and Jodie Foster think to themselves in each other's voices and talk in their own, which is better than being either Dean Jones or a dog, but not much.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jul 2, 2018

Endearing '76 original may feel outdated to kids.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 18, 2010

A kid's comedy classic.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Oct 16, 2007

It's vacuous TV sitcom stuff that's hampered by a weak script...

Full Review | Original Score: C | Oct 1, 2007

The film is filled with sight gags and features a wonderful performance by Harris.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jul 24, 2007

Quite inspired Disney comedy with fine performances.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 6, 2007

Good performances struggle gamely to overcome the increasingly predictable plot.

Full Review | Jan 26, 2006

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 15, 2005

Toward the end there are some amusing car-chase scenes. Elsewhere the humor is clotted by the feeling that the jokes are chasing the reactions, instead of the other way around.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | May 9, 2005

A cute little concoction for mothers and daughters.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Apr 3, 2005

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 24, 2005

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Feb 7, 2005

Disney's golden years and golden girl.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 8, 2004

Dismal and cheap as only a 70s Disney film can be.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Oct 31, 2004

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 30, 2004

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 4, 2004

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | May 18, 2004

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 10, 2004

Freaky Friday (United States, 2003)

With 2003's Freaky Friday , Walt Disney Pictures is again cannibalizing its past. This is the third time the Magic Kingdom has turned out a version of Mary Rodgers' novel. The first instance, in 1976, starred Barbara Harris as the mother and Jodie Foster as her teenage daughter. 19 years later, Disney re-adapted the text, this time as a made-for-TV endeavor starring Shelly Long and Gabby Hoffman. In 2003, those roles are filled by Jamie Lee Curtis (one wonders if Disney tried to get Foster) and Lindsay Lohan (who already has one Disney remake on her resume - that of The Parent Trap ). The philosophy behind the remake is solid. The 1976 version seems dated, and many of the girls who saw this movie during its initial theatrical run now have children around the same age they were at the time.

Freaky Friday is aimed squarely at the "tween" audience, and they will universally enjoy this movie, as will mothers who end up accompanying their offspring to theaters. Not being an 11-year old girl, I'm not in Disney's target audience, but I must admit having experienced a guilty pleasure while sitting through Freaky Friday . I certainly didn't hate the film, and, at times, I enjoyed its corny humor and low-key melodrama. It's not great cinema, but, despite problems with weak writing and sledgehammer moralizing, it is more often cute and appealing than clumsy and awkward. I give a lot of the credit to Curtis and Lohan, both of whom give top-notch performances.

Most people going into a multiplex to see this movie know the premise - it's a body-swapping film. (This was once a pretty popular cinematic fad. Thankfully, it died out after the hideous Kirk Cameron/Dudley Moore picture, Like Father, Like Son .) Dr. Tess Coleman (Curtis) is a stressed-out psychologist who is juggling being the single mother of two children, keeping her career afloat, and planning a marriage to the perfect guy (Mark Harmon). Tess' teenage daughter, Anna (Lohan), is having trouble in school because her English teacher hates her. Anna is also more interested in playing music with her bandmates (Haley Hudson, Christina Vidal) than in helping Tess with wedding preparations. And she believes that, in general, her mother is ruining her life. With the help of a little Chinese magic, Tess and Anna unwittingly switch bodies, and are consequently forced to see things from a different perspective. Tess discovers that being a teenager isn't as easy as it once was, and Anna decides that being a single mother isn't the piece of cake she thought it would be.

Neither Curtis nor Lohan takes the easy, over-the-top way out. Both of them do real acting, and that's the primary reason why Freaky Friday works as well as it does. Curtis does a great impression of an awkward teenager trapped in an older, less flexible body. There are a lot of nice subtleties in the performance, such as the way she uses her fingers. Likewise, Lohan enables us to believe that she is a mature, straight-laced woman squeezed into a younger, less lived-in form. It's a credit to both actresses that we never lose sight of the characters (Tess and Anna) once the switch has occurred.

Freaky Friday is motion picture cotton candy - sweet while it lasts, easily disposed of, and insubstantial. It will please those who seek it out, and probably won't horrify or disgust anyone who ends up seeing it for other reasons (dragged along, bribed, or otherwise coerced). There are enough clever and/or funny moments to provoke laughter from even a scowling 13-year old boy who wants to be next door watching Terminator 3 for the third time. The screenplay, credited to Heather Hach and Leslie Dixon, has its share of dead spots (all that stuff about the nearly-deaf grandfather is irritating), but is there anyone who doesn't think the "Crypt Keeper" line is great? Freaky Friday delivers what it promises - no more, no less. Modest goals, if achieved, aren't always disappointing.

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Freaky Friday Parent Guide

Walking in someone else's sneakers or high heels may be the best way to understand them, but for most of us it's easier said than done.

Release date August 6, 2003

Run Time: 97 minutes

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The guide to our grades, parent movie review by kerry bennett.

Walking in someone else’s sneakers or high heels may be the best way to understand them, but for most of us it’s easier said than done. However, that opportunity is exactly what’s about to happen to Dr. Tess Coleman (Jamie Lee Curtis) and her 15-year-old, Anna (Lindsay Lohan).

Although Tess has a career in counseling as a psychologist, mother and daughter are utterly unable to communicate with each other. Living a busy lifestyle that leaves little time for anything more than perfunctory interactions, their relationship is tenuous. Despite her best parental intentions, Tess can’t understand Anna’s repeated trips to the detention office, her involvement in a garage band or her bad attitude about the counselor’s upcoming marriage to Ryan (Mark Harmon). On the other hand, Anna can’t appreciate her widowed mom’s overabundance of cell phones, pagers, and obsession with work, or her desire to bring a new man into the house.

Now Tess has to deal with high school bullies, put up with a little brother’s (Ryan Malgarini) jabs and take a big math test. She also gets a first-hand chance to check out Jake (Chad Michael Murray), her daughter’s new love interest and to try her hand at playing electric guitar with the Pink Slip band members (Christina Vidal, Haley Hudson, Chris Carlberg, Danny Rubin). Meanwhile Anna has to lend a listening ear to her mother’s patients and play loving fianc0xE9e to a man she can hardly tolerate.

But their biggest challenge is figuring out how to get their own bodies back before the ceremony takes place.

Updated from the 1976 version starring Jodie Foster and Barbara Harris, this new millennium mom is totally career oriented—no funny fiascos doing the laundry here. There are also other changes to the script. Repeated terms of Deity, a few mild sexual comments, an autographed buttock and some mild thematic issues are concerns parents won’t likely remember from the original.

However, Lohan and Curtis do a good enough job of pulling off this Freaky Friday remake. Despite the increased pace of our lifestyle, or perhaps because of it, the art of communication between parents and teens can be just as problematic as it was 30 years ago.

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Kerry Bennett

Freaky friday parents' guide.

While practicing yoga, Tess quickly stops to paint her nails. How do her actions reflect the pace of her lifestyle? How does ?busyness? in our society affect relationships with family members and others?

What were some of the things Anna and Tess discover about each other while they are switched? What are the changes they make to themselves after they return to their own bodies?

What things does your family do to spend time together? What things do you have in common with your parents? What things are different?

Related home video titles:

Lindsay Lohan made her feature film debut in the 1998 remake of The Parent Trap , playing the dual roles of twins Hallie and Annie Parker. Bruce Willis struggles with past boyhood issues when a young boy, who seems vaguely familiar, inexplicably shows up at his house in Disney’s The Kid .

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Actors must love to make body-switch movies. Look at the fun Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan have in "Freaky Friday." Each one gets to imitate the body language and inner nature of the other, while firing salvos across the generation gap. Body-switch plots are a license for adults to act like kids; probably nobody has had more fun at it than Tom Hanks did in "Big," but Curtis comes close.

The movie is a remake of the 1977 film starring Barbara Harris and Jodie Foster , and also connects with the mid-1980s body-switch craze, when three or four switcheroos were released more or less simultaneously. Curtis plays Tess Coleman, a widowed psychiatrist soon to be remarried, and Lohan is Anna, her 15-year-old daughter, who is certainly the most clean-cut garage band guitarist in history. There is a kid brother named Harry ( Ryan Malgarini ), who, like all kid brothers, thinks his older sister is picking on him.

Anna believes Tess is remarrying with unseemly haste; she's going through what in a Disney movie passes for a rebellious phase, and in real life would be exemplary teenage behavior. Mother and daughter join the future husband, Ryan ( Mark Harmon ), for dinner in a Chinese restaurant, where they get into a fight. The restaurant family's grandmother (Lucille Soong) zaps them with a fortune-cookie curse, and the next morning when they wake up, Tess and Anna are in each other's bodies. (There was an article not long ago about how angels and God always seem to be played by African Americans in the movies. Another could be written on the usefulness of movie Asian Americans, who can always be counted on to supply magic potions, exotic elixirs, ancient charms and handy supernatural plot points.) Anna looks in the mirror and is shocked to see her mother's body: "I look like the crypt keeper!" Tess oversleeps just like her daughter always does. They go through the obligatory scene of horrified disbelief, although, like all body-switch movie characters, they are not simply paralyzed by astonishment and dread, but quickly decide to lead each other's lives for a while, so that there can be a story.

The movie, directed by Mark S. Waters and written by Heather Hach and Leslie Dixon , delivers scenes we can anticipate, but with more charm and wit than we expect. There is, for example, the case of Anna's flirtation with a slightly older boy named Jake ( Chad Murray ). He rides a motorcycle, so of course Tess disapproves of him, but now Tess, in Anna's body, is inexplicably cold to the kid, while Anna, in Tess' body, is so delighted to see him that before long she's on the back of the bike and Jake is telling her he feels like they really understand each other and maybe the age gap can be overcome.

Other entertaining scenes: The mother discovers her daughter's body has a pierced navel. The daughter buys her mother's body new clothes and a new haircut and gets her ears pierced. Tess attends a class Anna has been having trouble with, and realizes the teacher has been picking on her daughter because she (the mother) turned him down for a prom date. Everything comes down to a conflict between a rehearsal dinner and the garage band's big chance at the House of Blues, and when Anna, in Tess' body, makes her little speech at the dinner, we hear the daughter's resentments: "It's great we're getting married--even though my husband died. How quickly I've been able to get over it!" The outlines of body switch movies almost write themselves, although I'd like to see what would happen with an R-rated version. The clever writing here helps, but the actors help even more, with Lohan and Curtis taking big physical chances. Curtis, channeling the daughter inside her, has a hilarious scene on a talk show; she's supposed to be a serious psychiatrist discussing her new book, but sits cross-legged in her chair and leads the audience in routines that seem vaguely inspired by summer camp.

Lindsay Lohan, who starred in the recycled "Parent Trap"(1998), has that Jodie Foster sort of seriousness and intent focus beneath her teenage persona, and Jamie Lee Curtis has always had an undercurrent of playfulness; they're right for these roles not only because of talent, but also because of their essential natures. We're always sure who is occupying each body, even if sometimes they seem to forget. Now if only their Chinese enabler doesn't run out of fortune cookies.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Film credits.

Freaky Friday (2003)

Rated PG For Mild Thematic Elements and Some Language

Jamie Lee Curtis as Tess Coleman

Lindsay Lohan as Anna Coleman

Chad Murray as Jake

Mark Harmon as Ryan

Ryan Malgarini as Harry

Harold Gould as Grandpa

Based On The Novel by

• Mary Rodgers
• Leslie Dixon
• Heather Hach

Directed by

• Mark S. Waters

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Freaky Friday

Reviewed by: David M. Wheeler CONTRIBUTOR

Unselfish love; sacrificial love

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“Every teenager’s nightmare…turning into her mother”

Here’s what the distributor says about their film: “A tomboy teenage girl, Annabel (Lohan), and her widowed mother, Ellen (Curtis), who are always arguing with each other, simultaneously wish they could be someone else, they somehow exchange bodies, as they both learn (or in the mother’s case, remembers) what it’s like to be in the other person’s situation. As nice as that might be, the duo faces a deadline, as the mother is due to get married soon, and doesn’t want to miss the big event (obviously) or for her daughter to get to know her new stepfather (Harmon) a *lot* better than she had expected… There’s also the problem of Annabel finding herself stuck with her mom’s job as a medical doctor (but without any of the training to back it up)!”

“F reaky Friday” is one of the best family films I have seen in the theaters in a long time. It is a comedy, whose primary theme is unselfish love. It also touches on some other common family themes (sibling bickering, dating, peer pressure, second marriages). The film includes many positive family themes (abstinence before marriage, respect for adults, priorities in families, sacrificial love) that are wrapped into realistic events that demonstrate the difficulty of making good choices in the real world.

The film will make you laugh, as you watch some of the sillier conflicts of “dramatic” teen-parent battles, and cry as you see sacrificial love demonstrated to other family members.

For tips on parenting, see our Family Answers section

The story revolves around Anna Coleman, a teenager who is going through a difficult time in high school due to various problems with teachers, getting a boy to notice her, and being part of a rock band. Her real trouble lies in her relationship with her mother, Tess. Their conflicts, while focused on the “problem of the day” are really about Tess’ upcoming marriage to her boyfriend Ryan, and the unresolved conflict Anna has regarding the loss of her real dad, who died three years back.

For Christian tips on teens, and answers to many questions sent to us be teens, see our Teen Qs section]

The plot unfolds as Anna and Tess exchange places and they see the other’s life, conflicts, burdens and dreams through the other’s eyes. They also get a unique look at other family members and friends from a new position. The unique position gains them new trust and respect for the other.

There are a few scenes where God’s name is taken in vain, and there are some scenes of family conflict, rude behavior to parents and teachers. The film displays the difficult position of parents in trying to enforce some discipline in a fair and loving manner, not always successfully.

The beautiful part of this story is the main theme: unselfish love. The “curse” on Anna and Tess to change bodies is lifted when they realize their selfish behavior and demonstrate unselfish love to one another. This is a strong theme in the movie, and can be easily used to talk about the love Jesus Christ showed us by giving His life for us. Discussions about how unselfish love are needed in the family and in the church can easily be started by discussing scenes from the movie.

In my opinion, this is a wonderful movie and definitely worth the admission. It is destined to become a family classic!

Violence: None | Profanity: Minor | Sex/Nudity: None

• Young people

Jamie Lee Curtis Loses Desired Role in Netflix's One Piece Season 2

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With both sides showing interest, it had seemed all but certain that Jamie Lee Curtis would be playing a key role in the second season of Netflix's One Piece . However, the fantasy casting was apparently not meant to be.

It has now been confirmed that Curtis will not be a part of Season 2 of One Piece . After the success of Season 1, it had been teased by Curtis that she would be playing Doctor Kureha in the live-action adaptation of the popular manga. Now, executive producer Beckly Clements has revealed in a new interview with Deadline that Curtis won't be joining the series after all. It all comes down to Curtis' packed schedule, which includes filming the Disney sequel Freaky Friday 2 , as the reason the part needed to go to someone else.

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"She loves the show," Clements said. " She has too many films and TV shows that she’s going into production on so our production dates aren’t going to work . She definitely wanted to do it but she’s got deals in first position, and it just became complicated."

"She definitely wanted to do it but she’s got deals in first position, and it just became complicated."

Sharing that the part has since been cast, confirming that Doctor Kureha will be featured in Season 2, Clements added, " We have found an amazing person ."

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Curtis had hinted that she may be playing Doctor Kureha. It created enough of a buzz with fans for co-showrunner Matt Owens to confirm that Curtis was wanted to play the part in the show. Owens declared the casting to be "perfect" and shared how Curtis was invited to join the series following her Academy Award win.

"We have to try and get her [Curtis] on the show. What can we do? And Doctor Kureha, very luckily, is a character who is coming up in our story, and is someone who is perfect for Jamie Lee Curtis,” Owens told Deadline . "So we tried to start manifesting this dream of ours . After she won her Oscar, the writers' room sent her a figure of Doctor Kureha with a nice note that said, 'Congratulations on your statue, here’s another one to put next to it. Hope to speak to you soon.'"

Freaky Friday 2 and One Piece Season 2 Are Filming at the Same Time

Curtis' next film, the Freaky Friday sequel with Lindsay Lohan and Mark Harmon, started filming in June. Just days later, Netflix announced that production had started on the second season of One Piece . A video from behind the scenes was shared to celebrate the filming start for the second season of the hit show. Though Curtis was up for playing Doctor Kureha, Freaky Friday 2 was a dream project she'd been wanting for years, and given the timing, it would seem there was just no way to do both.

The first season of One Piece is streaming on Netflix.

Source: Deadline

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Freaky friday 2 set photo reveals first look at chad michael murray's return (with 1 signature detail).

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Freaky Friday 2 Just Shot Down Those Disney+ Rumors (& It's A Risk)

Star trek prequel movie reportedly set “largely on earth”, star trek 4 still in development, the true story behind the long game's san felipe mustangs, mark harmon returns to acting 3 years after leaving ncis in new movie set images.

• Chad Michael Murray was spotted on the set of Freaky Friday 2 , reprising his role as Jake from the original film.
• Walt Disney Studios shares an image of Murray with Jake's motorcycle in the background.
• The sequel is expected to be released in 2025.

Chad Michael Murray is on the set of Freaky Friday 2 in a new image. In the 2003 film, Murray played Jake , the love interest of Lindsay Lohan's character Anna Coleman, and was previously confirmed to be reprising the role for the upcoming sequel, which is scheduled to release in 2025. In addition to Lohan and Murray, Jamie Lee Curtis and Mark Harmon are returning, and the Freaky Friday 2 cast also features The Good Place and The Acolyte star Manny Jacinto, although his role is unknown.

A new post from Walt Disney Studios shows Murray on the set of Freaky Friday 2 , with Jake's motorcycle in the background . Check out the image below:

Jake's Ducati Monster 600 motorcycle was a significant part of his character in the first film, including the memorable scene when Anna, while swapped into the body of her mother Tess (Jamie Lee Curtis), rode on the back of the motorcycle. Jake will seemingly be continuing to ride it in the sequel.

What Will Jake's Role Be In Freaky Friday 2?

He may no longer be with anna..

By the time of the sequel, Anna and Jake may no longer be together, with Anna's new partner being the reason she is about to have a stepdaughter of her own.

While much of Freaky Friday 2 's plot and characters are being kept under wraps, it is confirmed that the sequel will feature Anna's daughter and a soon-to-be stepdaughter. Since Anna and Jake started dating at the end of Freaky Friday , they may have gotten married, with Jake being the father of Anna's daughter. By the time of the sequel, Anna and Jake may no longer be together , with Anna's new partner being the reason she is about to have a stepdaughter of her own.

If this is the case, Jacinto would be an excellent choice to play Anna's new love interest . Between The Good Place, the Hulu series Nine Perfect Strangers, The Acolyte , and his other projects, Jacinto has demonstrated his extensive range as both a comedic and dramatic actor. In Freaky Friday 2 , he could bring the goofiness, serenity, or seductiveness he has exhibited at different points in his best roles, making him distinct from Jake.

Freaky Friday 2 has begun filming and its release plan has been revealed, which put an end to all Disney+ rumors, but there's a big risk.

There could be tension between Jake and Jacinto's character , but there is also the possibility that they could get along well as they both co-parent Anna's daughter. Regardless of Jacinto's role, it will be nostalgic to see Jake presumably riding his motorcycle again and Murray playing the character more than two decades after the first film. With production still in the early stages, the excitement leading up to Freaky Friday 2 's theatrical release is only getting started.

Source: Walt Disney Studios /Instagram

Freaky Friday 2

Freaky Friday 2 is the sequel to the 2003 Disney comedy film that starred Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis as a mother and daughter who accidentally swapped bodies. No concrete details on the film exist other than the desire of Curtis and Lohan to return, with the script being written by Elyse Hollander.

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Freaky Friday is one of those teen classics that only gets better with age. However, we bet that there’s so much you don’t know about it!

Released more than 20 years ago, the Disney classic sparked a long-lasting friendship between its stars Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan .

It was such a hit that a sequel was commissioned in 2023, with many of the original stars returning , including Lindsay and Jamie .

The movie is expected to premiere in 2025, and we’ve been getting pics from set for weeks.

With renewed interest, several of the movie’s stars and others who worked on it got together with The Hollywood Reporter and opened up about some juicy behind-the-scenes secrets.

For instance, we learned that the movie almost featured two entirely different actresses in the lead roles. Additionally, a big plot point involving Gwen Stefani was going to center the script.

Chad Michael Murry opened up about getting cast and revealed that one of his scenes that still has his dad jealous to this day.

We even got some hints about what the sequel might look like!

Scroll through the slideshow to get all of the information about Freak Friday…

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Freaky Friday sequel shares first look at Chad Michael Murray's return

"Jake is back, baby."

The actor famously played the role of heartthrob Jake in the first movie, and will be back in the fold as love interest Anna (Lindsay Lohan) and her mother Tess (Jamie Lee Curtis) endure a new body swap twist.

Disney has now shared a first look at Murray back in character, with the actor posing in the back of a motorcycle.

Related: Chad Michael Murray shares joy at reuniting with Gilmore Girls co-star for new series

"Jake is back, baby," the studio captioned the post on Instagram.

The Freaky Friday sequel was officially announced last year, with a 2025 release date confirmed back in May of this year .

Alongside Lohan, Curtis and Murray, the movie will see the returns of Mark Harmon, Christina Vidal Mitchell, Haley Hudson, Lucille Soong, Stephen Tobolowsky and Rosalind Chao.

Related: Freaky Friday 's Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan reunite to tease sequel

Julia Butters, Manny Jacinto, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan and Sophia Hammons will be new additions to the cast.

The first movie follows the strained relationship between mother and teenage daughter Tess and Anna as they are forced to swap bodies.

The sequel will follow the pair in the present day as they are thrown into another inexplicable body swap and must improve their relationship.

Related: Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan reunite ahead of Freaky Friday 2

Freaky Friday 2 will be directed by And Just Like That... 's Nisha Ganatra, with Dollface 's Jordan Weiss writing the screenplay.

Before the sequel was announced, Curtis and Lohan teased the possibility of it happening , the Oscar-winner telling Variety in early 2023: "It's going to happen.

"Without saying there's anything officially happening, I'm looking at you in this moment and saying, 'Of course it's going to happen.' It's going to happen."

The sequel to Freaky Friday will be released in 2025.

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Sam is a freelance reporter and sub-editor who has a particular interest in movies , TV and music. After completing a journalism Masters at City University, London, Sam joined Digital Spy as a reporter, and has also freelanced for publications such as NME and Screen International .  Sam, who also has a degree in Film, can wax lyrical about everything from Lord of the Rings to Love Is Blind , and is equally in his element crossing every 't' and dotting every 'i' as a sub-editor.

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