I had really low expectations for this movie. I’m on record as saying that I’m not a fan of all these reboots and remakes and sequels that are coming out 20 years after the originals. I just find it so unnecessary. Studios would rather mine every popular film for any possible new takes than invest in new and original ideas. Sure, they make money, but at what cost? Some fans love the content. To each their own. But, personally, I don’t need it, and most of the time, I don’t want it. Because nothing will ever be as good as the original. Freakier Friday is definitely not as good as the original. It was never going to be. But I was surprised to find I did actually have a good time seeing it. I wouldn’t say it was “good”, per se, but it was entertaining in the way a cheesy Disney movie is. And sometimes that’s the vibe you need. 

Like most reboots/remakes/sequels, the plot of Freakier Friday is basically just the exact same thing as Freaky Friday, with a slight twist. Anna (Lindsay Lohan) is now a single mother raising her 15-year-old daughter, Harper (Julia Butters), with lots of help from her overbearing mother, Tess (Jamie Lee Curtis). Anna then meets widowed father Eric (Manny Jacinto) and the two get engaged after a whirlwind six-month romance. It’s a fairytale, except for the fact that Harper and Eric’s daughter, Lily (Sophia Hammons), of the same age, are sworn enemies. It doesn’t help that the couple is deciding on whether or not to stay in LA, where Harper has grown up, or move back to London to be close to Eric and Lily’s family. In the original, it was Anna who resented her mother’s impending marriage to Ryan (Mark Harmon) for fear of replacing her late father. Here, both girls are vehemently against the marriage and against living in each other’s hometowns. Of course, the solution to any disagreement is a body swap. But as sequels love to up the ante, it’s not just the two teens who switch bodies to better understand each other. Anna and Tess are pulled into the mix as well. Anna and Harper swap bodies while Tess and Lily swap bodies. The result is less of the intimate mother-daughter relationship repair we get in the original and more something else entirely. It’s half a comedy about generational differences and what happens as you age and half a Parent Trap kind of story (in reverse) where the young girls (in older bodies) try to break up their parents’ relationship. The biggest core plot difference is that, in the original, Anna and Tess desperately want to switch back into their own bodies. In Freakier Friday, Anna and Tess spend some time enjoying being young again while Harper and Lily want time to end the engagement. They actively resist switching back. The hijinks are still there, but none of the same urgency.

Maybe my number one takeaway from this movie is that Lindsey Lohan looks incredible. She’s been doing some really, really bad Netflix movies since her “comeback” to acting and, while this is technically a step up from those, she really does have the comedic chops to be doing more. She was so famous so young for a reason. She was legitimately good! I want more for her now. May the Lohanaissance continue! Her daughter in the film, Harper, is played by another child actress on her way to growing up, Julia Butters. Butters first appeared alongside Leonardo DiCaprio in Once Upon a Time in … Hollywood when she was 10 years old. (A movie that also starred Sydney Sweeney, Margaret Qualley, Mikey Madison, Austin Butler, and Maya Hawke all before they broke big in their careers.) I, of course, had to rewatch the original Freaky Friday before seeing the new one. For research purposes, obviously. And something that struck me was Jamie Lee Curtis didn’t completely annoy me all the way back in 2003. She was fun! But, now, after Everything Everywhere All at Once and her role on The Bear and just her real-life wacko persona, it’s all a bit much. Luckily for her, she’s playing a 15-year-old in this movie so her insane energy kind of works (although she still does dial it up to the maximum amount). Another thought I had when watching the original was Chad Michael Murray. That’s the whole thought. But, seriously, he’s an icon of the early 2000s movie. His look in A Cinderella Story is much more my type than his shaggier Freaky Friday style, but it still worked for me. And guess what? He still has it in 2025. Originally, I was upset that he wasn’t the one marrying Anna in this movie, but after Jake’s romantic interest in Tess is revived in this film, I realized it was probably for the better. And, anyway, Manny Jacinto has it too! His Dirty Dancing moves really won me over. 

The film also features plenty of cameos. Mark Harmon returned to reprise his role as Ryan as well as Ryan Malgarini as Anna’s brother, Harry. I also could not believe they got Christina Vidal and Haley Hudson back to reunite their band, Pink Slip. They all look amazing and rewatching Freaky Friday made me realize that “Take Me Away” is probably one of the greatest songs of all time. When Elaine Hendrix showed up at the premiere of the film to take pictures with Lindsey Lohan on the red carpet, I thought it was just for the nostalgic photo op. So it was a surprise to see her make a brief appearance in the movie as well. Another person I didn’t realize was in Freakier Friday was Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, aka Devi Vishwakumar from Never Have I Ever herself. I was happy to see her even though she’s not the greatest actress. To be fair, none of them are. But it’s also not a movie where you really need to be. It’s over-the-top and silly, but in a fun way. It’s a kids’ movie at its core. Let it be fun and dumb.

And fun and dumb it is. I don’t care, I had a good time. The movie was funny and sweet and very Disney, from its fashion montages to wacky science lab experiments to food fights. Although the Disney-ness of it is a change from the rebellious, punk, teen angst undercurrent of the original film. But maybe that was just more of-the-moment in 2003 than it is now. What I do miss, though, is the film grain of early 2000s movies. Everything now is almost too hi-def and glossy and bright. Freakier Friday looks every bit like the Disney+ streaming movie it was originally supposed to be. Overall, the movie was just better than it needed to be for what it was. You know? 

P.S. One thing Freakier Friday gets right in the vein of nostalgia-bait is that all movies should have end-credit bloopers! I know many movies have this but it just always reminds me of Cheaper by the Dozen, a true early 2000s movie classic.

2025 Count: 56 movies, 36 seasons of television, 4 specials