The Hollywood nostalgia machine has churned to the point that it is open season for anything released in the 2000s. It is enough to make even this late-millennial Gen-Z cusper of a critic feel old, but it is hardly surprising that Disney would eventually turn their eye to the 2003 comedy hit, Freaky Friday. Over twenty years later, with Jamie Lee Curtis coming off of an Oscar win and Lindsay Lohan experiencing a much-deserved resurgence after years of media scrutiny, it seems like everything aligned for them to reunite.
Freakier Friday is directed by Nisha Ganatra and once again stars Curtis as Tess Coleman and Lohan as Anna Coleman, a mother-daughter duo swept into a body-swap comedy that will bring their familial struggles to the forefront. This time, Anna’s upcoming marriage to Eric, a new character played by Manny Jacinto, causes turmoil as Eric’s daughter and Anna’s own face off in a clash of teenage attitude and resentment. Harper, Anna’s daughter, is played by Julia Butters, the standout young starlet who held her own against Leonardo DiCaprio in a thrilling scene in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Lily, Eric’s daughter and Harper’s soon-to-be step-sister, is portrayed by Sophia Hammons, a Disney Channel actress taking on her largest role to date.
This is a film that hinges on the chemistry of the leads. Thankfully, Curtis and Lohan both slip back into their dynamic like a glove, and Butters and Hammons are up to the task of pulling their weight even when given some serious, emotional heavy lifting as the film’s conflicts come to a head. All four of them play the body-swap dynamics well and deliver on the comedy throughout.
One of Freakier Friday’s greatest strengths is that it successfully plays into the feeling of those early 2000s Disney comedies, with broad humor from supporting cast members, completely unnecessary British accents, colorful montages of exposition, and loud pop anthems as needle drops—Chappell Roan better have gotten a big paycheck. Ganatra understands how to lay on that light touch of a punky aughts sensibility, even when some of the dialogue feels modern in a Netflix-series-trying-to-be-cool kind of way.
The main offender is the reliance on therapy speak, whether to lampshade the fact that the adults are using too much of it or not. The opening minutes really run out of steam with Tess and Anna’s repeated platitudes about “boundaries” and self-reflection and mindfulness. The beginning in general is a weak point, as the setup is drawn out for far too long. Audiences know what they are in for, but we spend half an hour getting to that point when the character dynamics are simply not complicated enough to warrant such a runway.
Generational divides play as big a role here as in the prior film, with many sequences playfully and earnestly addressing the differences, both good and bad, between the older and younger generations. The film has a fairly enthusiastic attitude toward the Gen Z demographic, a welcome surprise in a media landscape that often paints them broadly as apathetic or glued to their screens. Freakier Friday seems to believe the kids will be all right, that they are capable of working out the problems life throws at them and showing extreme compassion to each other. But it is pretty hard on the old folks, with a barrage of tired and rudimentary jokes at the expense of Curtis’ appearance, delivered by Curtis herself, playing a teenage girl inhabiting her body. It is intended to be playful and likely cathartic for Curtis, who has weathered an industry that has historically dismissed any women above the age of 35. But it comes off as far more cynical and mean-spirited than anything else Freakier Friday has to say about the generational gap.
Nevertheless, the comedy does often work thanks to the strength of the performances and the film’s embrace of its own absurd plotting. Chad Michael Murray is a major comedic highlight, reprising his role as Jake, Anna’s boyfriend from the first film. Jake’s arc from the 2003 film finds him more enamored with Anna’s mother than Anna herself, and those feelings are extrapolated to great effect in the sequel. Murray plays Jake’s intense interest in Tess with genuine sincerity, building to a visual gag in the final scene that is one of the best jokes in the film.
Freakier Friday takes a bit too long to get running and probably plays it too safe within the lines of the original to truly stand out. But nostalgia bait can turn out much worse. In a market starving for true comedies, it seems like dusting off older IP like The Naked Gun or Freaky Friday is the only way to get people laughing in theaters. Freakier Friday, being as fun and spirited as it is, is a welcome treat for anyone looking for a pleasant time at the movies.
6 out of 10
Freakier Friday is in theaters now.
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This article appears in Aug 1-31, 2025.
