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Freakier Friday is another case of seeing a sequel at the cinema, before I’ve seen any of the previous films in the series.
Okay, with this movie, there’s only one, Freaky Friday – for this pairing at least, given that there’s a number of previous iterations of the original novel. Yes, I could’ve watched it, but I always feel that this sort of sequel will feel like a carbon copy of the first one, so I may as well get the most fresh experience by seeing it first on the big screen. I always doubt that I’m going to struggle to follow the plot. It is not Shakespeare.
Because of Tess Coleman’s (Jamie Lee Curtis – The Last Showgirl) advancing years, firstly, an age joke, as she makes podcasts, but forgets to hit record… like I sometimes do with gameplay videos 🙂
Meanwhile, Anna’s (Lindsay Lohan – Our Little Secret) emo-ish dtr Harper (Julia Butters – The Fabelmans) nearly skipped school as she went off surfing, while she has a hot Chinese lab partner, Lily Reyes (Sophia Hammons), but they’re like chalk and cheese.
Hence, it’s of no surprise to anyone watching, that after just 6 months of bumping into and dating Lily’s Dad, Eric (Manny Jacinto – Top Gun Maverick), the two are engaged and the wedding is just about to happen, to the warring students will have to learn to get along.
Thanks to an errant palm reader, the body swapping happens, but it takes over 30 minutes to get to that point, since it wastes so much time with the set-up. This film should’ve been 90 minutes in total, not almost two hours!
As such, Harper swaps with Anna, while Lily swaps with Tess, although I thought the latter’s husband, Ryan, had been body-swapped with a waxwork dummy, since Mark Harmon is 73, but looks about 90! What happened to him? Did he have a stroke? I hope he’s okay.
As a film, Freakier Friday goes on way too long, and despite a few awkward moments after the body-swap, the rest feels like disconnected set pieces, rather than a coherent movie. Plus, you initially have to try and remember who swapped with who. Still, it kept a quartet of babblers quiet, who were set two rows back.
Plus, for a comedy, there’s scant funny bits. For me, in a music shop, Tess comments at one point, “I’m going to look at music for old people, like Coldplay”, while later on, Eric declares, “Can someone tell me what is going on here?”… Well, fella, Hollywood’s getting desperate with sequels and reboots in 2025, that’s what.
At 66, Jamie Lee Curtis still has natural massive tits, and her denim outfit shows she has great jeans!
During a concert scene towards the end, for Anna’s drab signing, Ella (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan – Never Have I Ever) – none of which is exactly ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, Anna and her Pink Slip bandmates from the first film – Maddie (Christina Vidal Mitchell – The Guilty) and Peg (Haley Hudson) – also get on stage, as does Harper (well, she’s Anna, at this point in the film), there’s a scene which also takes place in the foyer, and shows one couple buying merch, with another couple walking down the stairs…
Erm… who leaves a concert while it’s still on?! The merch stall would still be open for some time after the gig ends, anyway.
This really does feel like it was made for streaming, not a theatrical movie.
To its credit, though, Freakier Friday avoids the crass scripting of most films aimed at children these days, where the word “shit” is peppered amongst regular dialogue. Here, it’s absent. The most you get is a “piss off“, as well as someone else singing to Chumbawumba’s Tubthumping, “pissing the night away“.
It’s also good to see Stephen Tobolowsky in a film, here, returning as teacher Dr Elton Bates. He’s the same age as Mr Harmon, yet is full of beans throughout! Remember Sammy Jankis…
There’s also a mime who appears to shout two f-words, but it’s actually “Food Fight“.
Still, no doubt, Disney will soon bring us Freakiest Friday where Lindsay Lohan swaps places with the dog, and Jamie Lee Curtis becomes a coffee machine. It’ll run for two-and-a-half-hours, and no-one will care.
You can look on the bright side, though. This film has a production budget of $42m, the same as the awful The Naked Gun. Freakier Friday had taken $44.5m at the box office by Saturday just gone, while Liam Neeson’s reboot could barely scrape $27m by the end of its first week!
NOTE: There’s is a mid-credits scene, and something else during the credits, as described in the video below.
Freakier Friday is in cinemas now, but isn’t yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD. However, once announced, it will appear on the New DVD Blu-ray 3D and 4K releases UK list.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 111 minutes
Release date: August 8th 2025
Studio: Disney
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1 (ARRIRAW)
Cinema: Odeon Trafford Centre
Rating: 2/10
Director: Nisha Ganatra
Producers: Kristin Burr, Jamie Lee Curtis, Andrew Gunn
Screenplay: Jordan Weiss, Elyse Hollander
Original Freaky Friday novel: Mary Rodgers
Music: Amie Doherty
Cast:
Tess Coleman: Jamie Lee Curtis
Anna Coleman: Lindsay Lohan
Harper Coleman: Julia Butters
Lily Reyes: Sophia Hammons
Ryan: Mark Harmon
Eric Reyes: Manny Jacinto
Ella: Maitreyi Ramakrishnan
Maddie: Christina Vidal Mitchell
Peg: Haley Hudson
Jake: Chad Michael Murray
Principal Waldman: X Mayo
Grandma Chiang: Lucille Soong
Mama P.: Rosalind Chao
Madame Jen: Vanessa Bayer
Jett: Jordan E Cooper
Veronica: June Diane Raphael
Vivian: Mary Sohn
Judy (INS Agent): Santina Muha
Mr. Elton Bates: Stephen Tobolowsky
Jai: Aryan Simhadri
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.