REVIEW: 'Freakier Friday' lives up to the 2003 original
It's been 22 years since Freaky Friday hit cinemas and brought body-swapping laughs. Now, its sequel is here, with Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan reprising their roles as mother-daughter duo Tess and Anna Coleman, and aiming to live up to the expectations of the 2003 film, or even step out of its shadow.
Freakier Friday has a similar plot to the 2000s movie. Anna, who's now all grown up and a single mother to Harper (Julia Butters), prepares for her wedding to Eric Reyes (played by Filipino Canadian Manny Jacinto), a widower with a daughter named Lily (Sophia Hammons). To refresh your memory, the first flick followed Tess on the days leading up to her wedding to Ryan (Mark Harmon).
And like Freaky Friday, the sequel involves body swapping shenanigans—but instead of just Anna and Tess switching places, the two adults swap bodies with the two teens Harper and Lily, who don't see eye-to-eye.
The movie does bank on nostalgia. Familiar faces like Anna's friends and bandmates from Pink Slip, Maddie (Christina Vidal Mitchell) and Peg (Haley Hudson), her ex-boyfriend Jake (Chad Michael Murray), Pei-Pei (Rosalind Chao) and her mother (Lucille Soong) from the Chinese restaurant that gave Anna and Tess the body-switching fortune cookies, and English teacher Mr. Elton Bates (Stephen Tobolowsky) return. The iconic song Take Me Away earworms its way into the hearts of fans again.
Curtis definitely shines the brightest in the film, showing her comedic chops as she plays a fashionista teenager trapped inside her soon-to-be step-grandmother. Therapist Tess trades her pant suits and blazers for more chic, Gen Z outfits, which is a treat to see. She's even funnier in the sequel than in the 2003 title, getting into antics like cluelessly shopping for senior necessities like diapers and an enema.
The Oscar-winning actress also plays extremely well with her on-screen daughter Lohan, who's also a teenager in her mom's body. Together, they navigate flirting—a moment that drew roaring laughter from viewers.
As for Jacinto, initially, his character Eric was more of just a "zaddy," but thankfully, he got a bit of depth as a fiancé and a father. At least the fiancé in the sequel is more of a character than Harmon's Ryan in Freaky Friday. Can you believe it's Jacinto's first time playing a dad?
The movie isn't perfect, and at times it gets corny, and it falls short in developing Anna and Tess in the bodies of Harper and Lily—they mostly just enjoyed being in younger bodies.
While you can't beat the classic, the 2025 film still holds a candle to the 2003 original. It has its own story—well, more like it's more complicated, as there are four people switching. There's more at stake, as the teens, who initially hate each other, don't just try to live as the adults, they have a mission of their own: to stop their parents' wedding. And in pursuing this, they get a taste of adulting, enjoying independence and control, and also learning that actions have consequences. Also, it's important to note that they're not driven by unexplained teen angst; something is driving them to act out.
The new movie has a lot of heart, albeit familiar, that those who grew up with the 2000s film will enjoy. It tugs at the heartstrings as it talks about grief, unconditional love, and sacrifice. More than a mother-daughter story, the sequel is also one about a blossoming friendship that turns into sisterhood, as seen in Harper and Lily's relationship. It is what it needs to be, a feel-good family film. When you watch with your parents, siblings, or friends, you can expect to laugh a lot, feel a wave of nostalgia, and even get emotional.
Freakier Friday is just one of the few sequels to oughties films that are tough acts to follow. The Devil Wears Prada 2 is set for 2026, and set photos continue to be leaked. A third Princess Diaries is also in the works. As someone who grew up to these films, this writer just hopes that these other movies will live up to or even exceed expectations, too.
Freakier Friday is now in cinemas.
