FREAKIER FRIDAY -- From Streaming to the Big Screen

Review by Adam Donato

While the straight to streaming avenue is still taking many movies hostage, the tide does seem to be turning. After the live action remake Lilo & Stitch got upgraded to theaters, Disney is doing the same with Freakier Friday. Even though Lindsay Lohan seemed like she was entering her prime after the first movie, Jamie Lee Curtis has experienced more success in the twenty years since. The pair is back together here for a legacy sequel and look excited to recapture the magic of the first movie. There’s a lack of female specific blockbuster films and Freakier Friday is meant to satisfy girls that grew up with the original as well as new fans. If this film can be a success, then that will bode well for the future of theatrical releases. 

It’s a weird place to be when you’re wanting the movie to succeed for the industry at large, but the movie itself is uninspiring. Freakier Friday is not much better than the likes of Disenchanted and Hocus Pocus 2, two Disney legacy sequels that got pushed to streaming. This sequel doubles the fun by having our two leads switch bodies with newcomers to the franchise Julia Butters and Sophia Hammons. Butters plays Lohan’s daughter, while Hammons is the daughter of Lohan’s new fiance. Old people in young people’s bodies and young people in old people’s bodies. So much body switching. One might say too much. Instead of simply focusing on the relationship between two characters, the sequel overcomplicates the situation and feels more like a retread than an addition. This leads to a much less satisfying conclusion than the previous film. 

Lohan is not at her lowest point in her career, but she’s not necessarily thriving. She hasn’t had a hit in two decades and recently she’s been popular in the fake Netflix Hallmark ripoffs. Maybe she’s just not a good actress. She’s certainly not good here. This showing for her feels more like a mediocre swan song than a rebirth. Curtis on the other hand is not far removed from an Oscar win. While this may have been perceived as a legacy Oscar, Curtis has cemented herself in the annals of cinema history. Here she’s absolutely charming and adorable. She’s far and away the best part of this movie. Butters and Hammons are serviceable, but they’re not given much to do once the characters of Lohan and Curtis are switched into their bodies. 

Fans of the original will enjoy this encore as a trip down memory lane. Probably inspire them to rewatch the original so they can catch all the references in the new one. It may be silly enough to satisfy new young fans for the franchise, but there’s not a lot here for uninitiated adults. Yet another cash grab. Unfortunately, it would be advantageous for the industry for Freakier Friday to succeed in theaters so be sure to soak up the last of the summer blockbuster fun in movie theaters this weekend. 

​Freakier Friday is in theaters on August 8. 

Rating: 2/5