I am looking forward to Freakier Friday, and not just out of devotion to reigning Scream Queen Jamie Lee Curtis or out of pride for Lindsay Lohan’s recent comeback streak. I remember enjoying the upcoming 2025 movie’s predecessor, the 2003 adaptation of Mary Rodgers’ 1972 novel, and finding it to be one of the better body swap movies I had seen at the time (which is really saying something, believe me). Plus, I like to keep an open mind about these long-overdue and ultimately unnecessary sequels we have been getting lately, and this upcoming Disney movie is no exception.
That being said, there was something I noticed about the fantasy comedy’s first trailer that has me second-guessing how to feel about it, and it has nothing to do with Curtis seemingly wearing her Halloween movies wig. It has to do with the plot of Freakier Friday, which, thankfully, attempts something more original than copying the events of the first film, but it is not quite as fresh as the filmmakers may have assumed. Allow me to explain…
Freakier Friday And Family Switch Both Involve Two Adults Swapping Bodies With Two Teens
In 2003’s Freaky Friday, widowed psychiatrist Tess Coleman (Curtis) mysteriously wakes up in the body of her rebellious teenage daughter, Anna (Lohan), and vice versa. In the sequel, instead of swapping with each other again, Anna swaps with her daughter, Harper (Julia Butters), and Tess swaps with her soon-to-be stepdaughter, Lily (Sophia Hammons). I would find that to be a pretty cool twist on this concept… if Family Switch had not done something quite similar just a few years earlier.
In the 2023 Netflix original movie from director McG, Jess Walker (Jennifer Garner, in a role somewhat similar to her 13 Going on 30 character) switches bodies with her teenage daughter, CC (Wednesday cast member Emma Myers), and Jess’ husband, Bill (Ed Helms), switches bodies with his teenage son, Wyatt (Brady Noon). So, as you can see, a dual body swap between two adults with two familial teens is not exactly a fresh take on this subgenre. Of course, the similarities between Freakier Friday and Family Switch seem to stop there, as the Walkers’ toddler son, Miles, also swaps with their dog, Pickles. Hopefully, Freakier doesn’t incorporate anything like that or we’ll have a larger conversation on our hands.
Admittedly, It's Hard To Make A Truly Original Body Swap Movie
I would like to make it clear that I have no doubt the similarities between these films are purely coincidental. Besides, Freakier Friday was officially announced in mid-2023 (via THR), months before Family Switch premiered that November. I just think it is worth noting what unfortunate timing this is for the Freaky Friday sequel, as its premise could have been especially intriguing if it were not being released in such close proximity to the Netflix film. At least they are not being released in the same year, like what happened with body swap movies Vice Versa and 18 Again in 1988.
Plus, I empathize with Freakier Friday director Nisha Ganatra and screenwriter Jordan Neiss, who have been tasked with crafting a unique entry in this subgenre that, quite frankly, has rarely diverted from its formula. There have only been a handful of body swap movies that have pulled off something refreshing – such as 1997’s classic action movie Face/Off (in which John Travolta and Nicolas Cage’s characters have their appearances surgically altered), Freaky (an old-school slasher movie-style take on the concept), or Netflix’s underrated It’s What’s Inside (in which an experimental device causes multiple people to swap at once as part of a game that goes awry).
As I always say, it ultimately does not matter how familiar a movie’s concept may seem, as long as the execution is original. In that regard, I hope that Freakier Friday lives up to its hype as a sequel worth seeing.
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