'Freakier Friday' Review: Disney Follow-Up is Formulaic yet Retains the Original’s Rockin' Charm
Disney’s obsession with milking our wallets with nostalgia knows no bounds. Now that they're running out of animated movies to bastardize, they’re moving on to sequels to our childhood classics. If you were born around Y2K like me, chances are you consider 2003's Freaky Friday, starring Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis, as the ultimate adaptation of Mary Rodgers' classic novel. Well, time to remind millennials and Gen Z who thirst for the vinyl record of the original movie in Urban Outfitters, that we're of cryptkeeper age. We’ve received an unnecessary sequel, Freakier Friday. Despite recapturing the spirit and heart of the original, this 2x body-switching follow-up is too dependent on the original formula, yet has heart where it counts.
Image copyright (©) Courtesy of Disney
MPA Rating: PG (thematic elements, rude humor, language and some suggestive references)
Runtime: 1 Hour and 51 Minutes
Production Companies: Walt Disney Pictures, Gunn Films, Burr! Productions
Distributor: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Director: Nisha Ganatra
Writers: Jordan Weiss
Cast: Jamie Lee Curtis, Lindsay Lohan, Julia Butters, Sophia Hammons, Manny Jacinto, Mark Harmon
Release Date: August 1, 2025
In 2025, Anna (Lindsay Lohan) is now a busy music producer and single mom to a tomboyish teenage daughter, Harper (Julia Butters). She co-parents with her psychiatrist mom, Tess (Jamie Lee Curtis), who is now in her podcaster era. After an incident regarding Harper and a new British exchange student, Lily (Sophia Hammons), Anna is called to the principal's (X Mayo) office alongside Lily’s single dad, Eric (Manny Jacinto with a bad British accent). Sparks instantly fly between them. Like quintessential lesbians (or Disney characters), they U-Haul their romantic relationship straight to marriage within six months of dating, to the dismay of Lily and Harper.
At Anna’s bachelorette party, Anna, Tess, Harper, and Lily encounter a quirky medium (Vanessa Bayer). She gives them a reading that results in another body switch. The next day, Harper and Lily find each other in Anna and Tess’ bodies and vice versa. The kids concoct a plan to sabotage Anna’s relationship with Eric so Lily and Harper don't have to become sisters.
Lindsay's comeback is the price of admission
One of the main attractions of Freakier Friday is Lindsay Lohan back on the big screen. Not just exercising her comedic chops again, but singing and expressing emotional range. At times, it feels like a celebration of her early career (thanks to Elaine Hendrix's cameo and October 3rd being Eric and Anna’s wedding date). We're reminded of why we loved Lohan. Screw Brad Pitt, this is the comeback performance of the year. Like her relationship with Curtis, Lohan's charm and comedic acting have remained timeless. Watching her perform with grace and fearlessness, particularly in the “seducing Jake” scene, had me wistful, nearly tearing up and going, "Man, she still got it."
If anything, I hope this opens the door for her to star in real, cinematic, original movies that are fitting for her talent at this age. Get that Brendan Fraser "Hollywood treated you dirty, and now here are your flowers. We missed you! We're sorry," treatment!
Freakier freakily captures the right kind of nostalgia in some doses
Not to sound like an old Gen Z-er yelling at a cloud, but many family films these days are so sanitized. Somehow, Freakier Friday faithfully recreates the 2003 spirit in 2025. In all the appropriate areas, screenwriter Jordan Weiss (Dollface, Harley Quinn) maintains the edge while evolving the dated sensibilities of the original. It’s also fairly progressive as the suggestive humor has a refreshing female gaze to it, with mature gags that often made me question, “Wait, this is Disney?! In 2025?!” Director Nisha Ganatra and Weiss know their audience is taking their young ones to see this and appeal to their taste. The film has something for both audiences while bringing back aspects forgotten in film. For example, there's a blooper credit sequence, which we barely get anymore.
The film leans into some threads and subverts some criticisms into embracement. One recurring joke that actively gagged me was Anna's high-school ex-boyfriend Jake (Chad Michael Murray) being really into Tess, as if "Stacy's Mom" was his autobiography. What was once a strange thread is now hilarious, even down to Murray embracing the joke. That's the kind of nostalgia that works.
Twice the body-switching, twice the funny
It takes a while to get to the fun. Freakier's painful first act is so reliant on contemporary buzzwords and autopilot dialogue, which feels like a cash-grab sequel without any effort behind it. Plus, the Arri Alexa 35 that it was shot on makes it look like a Disney+ movie.
However, once the body swap starts and the soon-to-be stepsisters perform their Santa Monica-set routines in the respective places, Weiss' script finally finds its footing. More akin to her previous comedy feature, Sweethearts, than largely adhering to the original's formula, the second act consists of increasingly funny comedic scenes. Many of these moments feature supporting comedic cameos getting to play with Lohan and Curtis. The scene-stealer is a hilarious Vanessa Bayer as a quirky medium.
Freakier Friday forgets to install an Anna and Tess character arc
Freakier Friday often neglects the potential of its body-swapping narrative components in service of nostalgia and aimless comedy. With Harper and Lily taking the spotlight, Anna and Tess are essentially invisible. It establishes a conflict with Tess and Anna's co-parenting, particularly when Anna is considering moving the family to London after the wedding. Harper doesn't want that, and Tess offers to reside with her, unbeknownst to Anna. The moment the body swap occurs, the mother-daughter arcs are shafted. Even more so with the jokes, which resort to their enthusiasm for having a high metabolism and functioning joints. A reminder that we're all the cryptkeeper now! While we see these stars exercise their comedic skills again, they do lose the semblance of the original characters we were attached to in the first place. It's also a shame considering that Julia Butters (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) is doing a great imitation of Lohan and all her Anna-isms in every scene. Her co-star, Sophia Hammons, showcases decent range pre- and post-switch.
Final Thoughts
The formula-driven Freakier Friday ignores its main characters, but it captures the original's charm in a lighthearted way, from its edge to Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan's timeless dynamic. This body-switching follow-up is fine fare for the family.
For full access to all articles on the website and member-only content, such as the complete archive and the Award Artisan Interview Series, sign up for a Rendy Reviews membership.
