Freaky Friday Review
by Robin Clifford (robin AT reelingreviews DOT com)August 1st, 2003
"Freaky Friday"
Dr. Tess Coleman (Jamie Lee Curtis) and her 15-year old daughter Anna (Lindsay Lohman), like many modern mothers and daughters, do not see eye to eye. Widowed mom is getting remarried and wants Anna to accept her fiancé Ryan (Mark Harmon). Anna is a budding rock musician and seeks her mom's support for her aspirations. When the two bicker at a Chinese restaurant, the owner's mother slips them a pair of identical fortune cookies and they soon learn that they are in for one "Freaky Friday."
Tess and Anna open the cookies and read the prophetic fortunes that say, essentially, you'll know how another person feels only if you walk a mile in their shoes. The room shakes like an earthquake has hit it, but just only Tess and Anna seem to notice. They ignore the strange event - until the next morning when Tess wakes up, looks into the mirror and sees...Anna! She races to her daughter's room to find out that Anna now inhabits her body! With Tess's wedding rehearsal dinner that evening and the nuptials set for the next day, Saturday, the Coleman ladies must do some fast thinking to put things straight.
Mary Rodgers's popular 1972 children's book was first brought to the screen in its first film adaptation, the 1976 Disney comedy starring Barbara Harris and young Jodi Foster as the mother and daughter in conflict. "Freaky Friday" was made a second time, for the small screen, in a 1995 version. Now, Mark S. Waters helms the latest version, again for the Mouse House, with an updated screenplay by Heather Hach and Leslie Dixon that has Tess a single working mom and Anna a member of a garage band.
This is a bit of lightweight but entertaining summer fare that benefits from a good pairing of Curtis and Lohman. The role exchange between the two is handled in a charming way as Lohman must convince us that she is the anal retentive Tess who must, until they can figure out a way to change things back, take her daughter's place for an all-important exam. Anna, given a wallet full of money and credit cards, must replace Tess at her psychiatric practice, but not before a shopping spree.
Typically, Tess and Anna have to cope with the other's problems and responsibilities without causing too much havoc. Anna has to take her mom's place as she sees Tess's patients and, against her mother's admonishment, puts in her two cents in their treatment. When one patient, a mother, tells Anna that she has been reading her daughter's diary - for her own good the mom says - the teenager in the woman's body is incensed and sets the mother straight on teen girl behavior. There is also an amusing sequence when Anna-Tess must appear on a TV talk show to shill Tess's book. Jamie Lee Curtis does a wonderfully funny and physical job of portraying a teen trapped in a mature woman's body - "I'm like the crypt keeper!" - Anna bemoans when she sees her mother's face in the mirror. She plays it broadly juvenile but it is a fun performance.
Tess-Anna, on the other hand, has to cope with being a teen in the 21st Century. When she takes the big exam for Anna, what she thought would be a piece of cake turns into something akin to reading Greek. She also has to cope with a jealous ex-girlfriend and a handsome, Ducati motorcycle riding guy named Jake (Chad Murray) whom Anna harbors a huge crush for. The whole school environment has changed from when Tess was a kid and she develops a newfound understanding and respect for her daughter. Lohman does the little details nicely, like when she absent-mindedly adjusts her girlfriend's clothes to be more demure.
The supporting cast is background only, for the most part, but little Ryan Malgarini, as Anna's diminutive brother Harry, gets some of the best laughs after the stars. The rest, including Mark Harmon as Tess's fiancé, do yeoman's work but are unremarkable.
Techs are OK but the main draw is to watch Curtis and Lohman do their thing.
"Freaky Friday" covers the required bases with the setup of the conflict between mother and daughter, the shattering exchange of bodies and the eventual understanding that develops as each is enlightened about the other. It's lighthearted summer fun and nothing gets blown up and no one gets shot. I give it a C+.
"Freaky Friday"
Dr. Tess Coleman (Jamie Lee Curtis) and her 15-year old daughter Anna (Lindsay Lohman), like many modern mothers and daughters, do not see eye to eye. Widowed mom is getting remarried and wants Anna to accept her fiancé Ryan (Mark Harmon). Anna is a budding rock musician and seeks her mom's support for her aspirations. When the two bicker at a Chinese restaurant, the owner's mother slips them a pair of identical fortune cookies and they soon learn that they are in for one "Freaky Friday."
Tess and Anna open the cookies and read the prophetic fortunes that say, essentially, you'll know how another person feels only if you walk a mile in their shoes. The room shakes like an earthquake has hit it, but just only Tess and Anna seem to notice. They ignore the strange event - until the next morning when Tess wakes up, looks into the mirror and sees...Anna! She races to her daughter's room to find out that Anna now inhabits her body! With Tess's wedding rehearsal dinner that evening and the nuptials set for the next day, Saturday, the Coleman ladies must do some fast thinking to put things straight.
Mary Rodgers's popular 1972 children's book was first brought to the screen in its first film adaptation, the 1976 Disney comedy starring Barbara Harris and young Jodi Foster as the mother and daughter in conflict. "Freaky Friday" was made a second time, for the small screen, in a 1995 version. Now, Mark S. Waters helms the latest version, again for the Mouse House, with an updated screenplay by Heather Hach and Leslie Dixon that has Tess a single working mom and Anna a member of a garage band.
This is a bit of lightweight but entertaining summer fare that benefits from a good pairing of Curtis and Lohman. The role exchange between the two is handled in a charming way as Lohman must convince us that she is the anal retentive Tess who must, until they can figure out a way to change things back, take her daughter's place for an all-important exam. Anna, given a wallet full of money and credit cards, must replace Tess at her psychiatric practice, but not before a shopping spree.
Typically, Tess and Anna have to cope with the other's problems and responsibilities without causing too much havoc. Anna has to take her mom's place as she sees Tess's patients and, against her mother's admonishment, puts in her two cents in their treatment. When one patient, a mother, tells Anna that she has been reading her daughter's diary - for her own good the mom says - the teenager in the woman's body is incensed and sets the mother straight on teen girl behavior. There is also an amusing sequence when Anna-Tess must appear on a TV talk show to shill Tess's book. Jamie Lee Curtis does a wonderfully funny and physical job of portraying a teen trapped in a mature woman's body - "I'm like the crypt keeper!" - Anna bemoans when she sees her mother's face in the mirror. She plays it broadly juvenile but it is a fun performance.
Tess-Anna, on the other hand, has to cope with being a teen in the 21st Century. When she takes the big exam for Anna, what she thought would be a piece of cake turns into something akin to reading Greek. She also has to cope with a jealous ex-girlfriend and a handsome, Ducati motorcycle riding guy named Jake (Chad Murray) whom Anna harbors a huge crush for. The whole school environment has changed from when Tess was a kid and she develops a newfound understanding and respect for her daughter. Lohman does the little details nicely, like when she absent-mindedly adjusts her girlfriend's clothes to be more demure.
The supporting cast is background only, for the most part, but little Ryan Malgarini, as Anna's diminutive brother Harry, gets some of the best laughs after the stars. The rest, including Mark Harmon as Tess's fiancé, do yeoman's work but are unremarkable.
Techs are OK but the main draw is to watch Curtis and Lohman do their thing.
"Freaky Friday" covers the required bases with the setup of the conflict between mother and daughter, the shattering exchange of bodies and the eventual understanding that develops as each is enlightened about the other. It's lighthearted summer fun and nothing gets blown up and no one gets shot. I give it a C+.
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