With Jamie Lee Curtis’ career on a resurgence and Lindsay Lohan’s stable after years of addiction problems, a sequel to the 2003 comedy remake was probably inevitable. Anna (Lohan) meets and falls in love with Eric (Manny Jacinto) but their daughters Harper (Julia Butters) and Lily (Sophia Hammons) hate each other. When a visit to a fortune teller results in Anna and her mother Tess (Curtis) swapping bodies with Harper and Lily, the kids see an opportunity to split their parents up.
I was concerned during the first half hour that this would be a complete dud. I struggled with all of the characters and it all felt a bit flat. But once the body swap happens, things pick up considerably. It is a conceit that has been used scores of times before but it is pretty bullet proof.
Director Nisha Ganatra and writer Jordan Weiss manage to wring out a number of laughs from the material. All four leads make a great job in their revised roles, and the story bowls along nicely. There is a lull towards the end as the plot becomes more serious, with all concerned realising they love each other, but there are a couple of surprisingly good musical numbers to keep it buoyant.
The gold standard of body swap films remains Christopher Landon’s Freaky from 2020, but Freakier Friday is pretty agreeable.
Rating: 6.5 out of 10