Review:  🎬 Freakier Friday (2025)

Freakier Friday (2025) - "A mother-daughter(s)-grandmother switch that tugs at why we loved the original"

 3.5 out of 5

Freakier Friday picks up more than two decades after the 2003 hit, expanding the original’s simple mother–daughter switch into a dizzying four-way body swap that feels both nostalgically familiar and oddly overcomplicated. The sequel reunites widowed therapist Tess Coleman (Jamie Lee Curtis) and her now-adult daughter Anna Coleman (Lindsay Lohan) as Anna prepares to marry London restaurateur Eric Davies (Manny Jacinto). Their plans collide with teenage angst when Anna’s daughter Harper (Julia Butters) and Eric’s daughter Lily (Sophia Hammons) clash, setting the stage for a chaotic séance by a psychic (Vanessa Bayer) that swaps grandmother, mother, and both teens into each other’s bodies.

Jamie Lee Curtis remains the film’s heart and engine, transforming Tess’s podcast-host persona into a frenetic frame for Curtis’s impeccable comedic timing. Her grandmother-in-a-teen’s-body routines land with surprising warmth, especially when she must navigate high-school hallways with the swagger of a seventy-year-old. Lindsay Lohan complements Curtis perfectly, rediscovering the spark that made her breakout role so infectious while adding a grounded vulnerability to Anna’s frantic balancing act between career and motherhood.

Julia Butters and Sophia Hammons enliven the younger half of the ensemble, each bringing distinct energy to their dual roles. Butters seamlessly captures Anna’s midlife dreams through a teen lens, while Hammons delights in embodying Tess’s measured calm as a teenager. Manny Jacinto’s gentle charm as Eric provides a steady emotional anchor, preventing the film’s busier body-swap mechanics from drifting into pure mayhem.

Under Nisha Ganatra’s direction and Jordan Weiss’s screenplay, Freakier Friday adheres closely to the Disney formula of heartfelt lessons wrapped in broad comedy. The pacing occasionally falters under the weight of its own complexity—four characters exchanging identities is fun in theory, but the logistics can feel like solving a Rubik’s Cube mid-show. Still, the film leans into its heart, reminding us that empathy often begins by walking (or swapping) in someone else’s shoes.

This sequel is built on riffs and winks to the original Freaky Friday, and viewers who haven’t embraced the 2003 film may find these nods odd or out of place. On its own, many callbacks would likely fall flat. But for anyone who treasures the Curtis–Lohan chemistry and the original’s playful spirit, these references feel downright charming, bathing the sequel in a warm, nostalgic glow.

Critically, the film has earned a respectable 73% on Rotten Tomatoes and has grossed $92 million worldwide against a $42–45 million budget, underscoring its reliable appeal as summer family entertainment. While it may not reinvent the wheel, Freakier Friday delivers enough laughs and warm fuzzies to satisfy fans old and new alike.