Our Freakier Friday review is in. After two decades, Freakier Friday finally premiered in cinemas on August 8. Does the Disney sequel live up to the iconic 2003 film, Freaky Friday? Capsule’s Vivien Beduya thinks so, and here’s why.
Hollywood’s barrage of mediocre reboots and sequels to tap into millennial nostalgia isn’t lost on me. I don’t even bother watching remakes in the cinemas these days.
But the Freaky Friday sequel, rightly called “Freakier Friday”, was an exception. Because a.) I owe it to 8-year-old me, who watched Freaky Friday an unhealthy amount of times. I NEED to see what’s next for the mother-daughter duo Tess (Jamie Lee Curtis) and Anna Coleman (Lindsay Lohan).
And b.) Chad Michael Murray, need I say more? He reprises his role as Jake, Anna’s high school sweetheart.
I walked into the cinema with very low expectations – merely to satisfy a nostalgic itch and the eye-candy. But when the movie ended, I was pleasantly surprised to find myself beaming. I absolutely LOVED it.
The Plot
The thing about iconic movie remakes is that the fans are so protective of it, so the stakes are high.
But for context, Freaky Friday has had three movie adaptations since 1976, based on Mary Rodgers’ 1972 children’s novel, updating it each time to fit the current generation.
On Freaky Friday, the mother and daughter didn’t see eye to eye. Anna wanted to be a rockstar, Tess strongly objected. Their relationship turned even more sour when Tess got engaged to Ryan, which made Anna feel like her mum was forgetting about her father who passed.
Seen bickering at a Chinese restaurant, the owner’s meddling mother orchestrated their body swap through a fortune cookie – to teach them the ultimate lesson of empathy.
The sequel, however, is uncharted territory and it can make fans reluctant. But what makes Freakier Friday work is because it honoured the original tastefully – from the scripting to execution.
In the trailer, we quickly learn that Anna and Jake don’t end up together (sobs). Instead Anna, now a music manager, is a single mum to Harper (Julia Butters).
She gets engaged to a successful Filipino-English chef named Eric (Manny Jacinto), who just moved from London to Los Angeles with his daughter, Lily (Sophia Hammons).
And Tess? The psychiatrist and author ebbs between Harper’s cool grandma and Anna’s still overstepping mother.
But the real drama is between the teens Harper and Lily. The two are polar opposites – Harper is a laidback surfer and Lily is an aspiring fashion designer.
The pair, who were already beefing at school before their parents’ engagement, are now forced to become step-sisters.
The Easter Eggs
There were a lot of nods to the 2003 film. Like when Anna relentlessly knocks on Harper’s bedroom door to make sure she’s on time for school – something her mum Tess did in the original.
At school drop off, Anna yells out the window “Make good choices!” to Harper, something her mother used to say to her that made her eyes roll. (It’s funny how we turn into our mothers, hey?)
The song from Anna’s band “Take Me Away” was played and I sang along in the cinema. No shame.
Another satisfying shot of millennial injection is the chemistry between Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis. It is so endearing to watch – a testament to the real life friendship they’ve kept through the decades.
Speaking to Today’s Audience
As much as the movie leans into a lot of nostalgia (trust me, there’s so much more references, including Mean Girls, Parent Trap and Dirty Dancing!), it’s also speaking to the times. There’s Pickeball, e-scooters and… “bet”?
Unsurprisingly, Anna uses as much “therapy speak” as she can in the way she parents Harper. Does it work? Of course not. Teenagers just do what teenagers want to do.
I also took pleasure in seeing Lohan’s acting skills being put to GREAT use with such a well-written script. Let’s be real, her recent string of Netflix romcoms have not done this childhood star’s talent justice.
But the real star of the show is Jamie Lee Curtis. Her masterful comedic timing CARRIED the film, and her performance will leave you in endless fits of laughter. (At least it did with me!)
Tess is dabbling with a podcast, something a psychiatrist and author would actually do in today’s age.
Lily swaps bodies with Tess, and the teen is so aghast that she’s become a grandma overnight. Determined to look young again, Lily uses a lip pumper before Tess’s passport photos were taken.
Jamie Lee Curtis acting like a 15-year-old girl with pumped up lips was not on my 2025 bingo card. But holy heck, I couldn’t stop laughing, I was gasping for air.
On top of Curtis’ onscreen performance, we have her to thank for rallying to get the sequel made. In several of her press tours, Curtis openly talks about how she called Disney CEO Bob Iger directly to make the sequel happen.
Importance of Representation
The movie’s inclusive casting was also done right. It didn’t feel tokenistic.
We see Disney’s first Southeast Asian romantic leading man, Filipino-Canadian Manny Jacinto, who’s widely known as the loveable doofus Jason on the Netflix series The Good Place.
This is important because Hollywood has portrayed the Asian man as a tech nerd or martial arts master with zero sex appeal for far too long. And honestly? I’m over it.
And to my surprise, the HILARIOUS Maitreyi Ramakrishnan was in the movie. She played a pop princess named Ella and she ATE. The Sri Lankan Tamil-Canadian actress broke through in her role as Devi in the popular coming-of-age Netflix series Never Have I Ever, which I also highly recommend.
The Lessons
It’s not a Disney family movie without the lessons. Despite the film being an epic comedy (I honestly laughed more at this one compared with the prequel), the film still has several themes audiences can reflect on.
Ageing beauty, multigenerational relationships, parenthood (single parenthood at that) and true love.
Because the tricky thing about a Freaky Friday sequel is that its penultimate message is so tied to walking a mile in each other’s shoes because of the body swap, director Nisha Ganatra tells The Wrap. (DON’T click the link if you don’t want spoilers!)
But the movie tells a different overarching message, which is for you to find out when you watch it.
Freakier Friday is out in theatres now.
