Freakier Friday

Freakier Friday hits theaters more than two decades after Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan first injected chaotic energy into Freaky Friday (2003) by swapping bodies and lives as mother and daughter. Sequels that arrive this late in the game often rely on pure nostalgia or lame imitations, but this one manages to strike the right balance: it celebrates the return of its iconic stars, builds on an original multigenerational concept, and embraces the absurd with a knowing wink to the audience. Director Nisha Ganatra and screenwriter Jordan Weiss are fully aware of the cultural capital that the original still enjoys. Instead of trying to outdo it with surprises, they double (or even quadruple) the mechanics of the exchange, transforming the simple principle of role reversal into an explosion of mixed identities, sometimes at the expense of emotional clarity, but often with comical results.

From the outset, the film repositions its characters in a modern family landscape. Anna, played by Lindsay Lohan, is now a single mother in her thirties juggling work and raising Harper, her surf-obsessed, foul-mouthed teenage daughter, played with unsettling precision by Julia Butters. Meanwhile, Tess, played by Jamie Lee Curtis, has entered the “cool grandma” phase: she still works as a therapist, but has now built a public image for herself through podcasts, self-help books, and a penchant for excessive involvement in her family's affairs. The status quo is disrupted when Anna meets and falls in love with Eric, a warm but slightly too perfect British restaurateur played by Manny Jacinto, and father of Lily (Sophia Hammons), a stylish teenager whose propriety contrasts sharply with Harper's laid-back attitude as a beach girl.

This is where the film draws its greatest source of interpersonal sparks: Harper and Lily hate each other from the moment they meet, and their rivalry intensifies in a way that only teenagers can afford: passive-aggressive insults in front of adults, one-upmanship on the playground, and silent battles over who gets the bigger bedroom. Their parents' engagement is a nightmare for them, and when Anna's bachelorette party approaches, they are united only by their desire to derail the wedding. Vanessa Bayer then appears as a delightfully eccentric psychic, a cameo that steals the show and combines deadpan weirdness with a chaotic energy that seems to come from a completely different comedy. Thanks to her harmless magical intervention, the body swap between mother and daughter that once defined Tess and Anna turns into a quadruple swap: Anna with Harper, Tess with Lily.

The fun—and chaos—lies in the performances of the actors. Jamie Lee Curtis steals the show in every scene where she plays Tess in Lily's body, indulging with abandon in the exaggerated self-centeredness of teenage girls. She's not afraid of physical gags, whether it's a full-blown meltdown on a pickleball court, an exaggerated influencer moment with lip-plumping gloss that goes wrong, or the exact posture of a 15-year-old slumped over her phone. Lindsay Lohan, meanwhile, is tasked with channeling her daughter's teenage impatience and hormonal volatility while retaining the essence of Anna. It's a more subtle exercise, one she accomplishes with timing that reminds us why she was once the go-to teen star for roles that combined comedy and emotion.

Julia Butters deserves special mention for her ability to replicate Lohan's mannerisms without turning them into parody. Her meticulous observation is evident in the way she adjusts her posture or pauses slightly before speaking, making Harper in Anna's body feel like a real person navigating adulthood rather than a child playing dress-up. Similarly, Sophia Hammons relishes the opposite challenge: making Lily in Tess's body convincing as an older girl, while allowing her teenage insecurity to shine through her polished exterior.

It's in its affectionate nods to the first film that this one scores points. The return of Jake, played by Chad Michael Murray, who still runs his record store and exudes the same laid-back charm, is handled with a light touch, more like a warm wink than a heavy-handed cameo. The Pink Slip reunion, with Christina Vidal and Haley Hudson, is pure fan service, but it's executed with enough genuine joy to make it work. Even the cameos by Rosalind Chao and Lucille Soong are like little cinematic hugs, especially since the directors avoid the embarrassing racial stereotypes that marred parts of the original.

The script is peppered with generational humor that mostly works: Harper teasing Tess about her use of Facebook as a database of old people, Anna rebelling against the confusing landscape of gluten-free dating, and a recurring reference to texting etiquette between Gen Z and millennials. It's a smart way to acknowledge the time jump without drowning in self-reference.

Nevertheless, quadrupling the exchange dynamic comes with narrative trade-offs. The strength of the original lay in its focus on a single relationship, that between Tess and Anna, which allowed for more sustained emotional payoff. Here, the attention is divided, and while the exchange between Tess and Lily provokes big laughs, the connection between Harper and Anna doesn't quite achieve the same depth or impact. The structure relies heavily on montage sequences—makeover mishaps, sports disasters due to role reversal, and one-shot TikTok gags—which maintain a steady pace but sometimes overshadow the underlying emotional current. Even the inconsistency of accents (Lily, who is British, speaks with an American accent in Tess's body) is symptomatic of the film's tendency to prioritize comic timing over strict logic.

Yet despite these scriptwriting concerns, Nisha Ganatra manages to make it all work with infectious energy. The camera embraces the chaos, with quick cuts and rapid visual references to the first film, while the performances of the actors give emotional depth to the script whenever it threatens to descend into pure slapstick. And there is a meta-textual pleasure in seeing Lindsay Lohan now on the parents' side, her career echoing Anna's journey.

Her slow return to Hollywood adds a poignant touch to the scenes where Anna reflects on missed opportunities or rediscovers her passion for music. The return of Pink Slip is not just a crowd-pleasing moment, it's a symbolic reappropriation of her own narrative. Jamie Lee Curtis, meanwhile, remains one of Hollywood's most fearless comic actresses.

She throws herself into ridicule without ever devaluing it, and her chemistry with Lohan is as strong as ever. When the film finally moves on to its sentimental conclusion, the two women share a subtle, quiet, and understated moment that reminds us why their 2003 pairing felt like love at first sight.

Freakier Friday doesn't surpass its predecessor in terms of emotion, but it doesn't need to. It's a lively reunion, a passing of the torch to a younger generation, and a film that understands exactly what its audience has come to see. More chaotic? Definitely. But also warmer, funnier, and, as it should be, freakier.

Freakier Friday
Directed by Nisha Ganatra
Written by Jordan Weiss
Story by Elyse Hollander, Jordan Weiss
Based on Freaky Friday by Mary Rodgers
Produced by Kristin Burr, Andrew Gunn, Jamie Lee Curtis
Starring Jamie Lee Curtis, Lindsay Lohan, Julia Butters, Sophia Hammons, Manny Jacinto, Mark Harmon
Cinematography: Matthew Clark
Edited by Eleanor Infante
Music by Amie Doherty
Production companies: Walt Disney Pictures, Gunn Films, Burr! Productions
Distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Release dates: July 22, 2025 (El Capitan Theatre), August 6, 2025 (France), August 8, 2025 (United States)
Running time: 111 minutes

Seen on August 8, 2025 at Gaumont Disney Village, Theater 9, seat A20

Walt Disney Company France no longer wishes to work with the French online press, unlike in the United States, so we had to pay for our seat in order to bring you this review.

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