In her practically 50-year profession, Jamie Lee Curtis says she’s solely improvised one single line: “Make good selections.” These are the phrases her character, Dr. Tess Coleman, yelled out the automotive window to her daughter Anna (Lindsay Lohan) within the 2003 body-swap comedy Freaky Friday. That beloved, heavily-memed quote is introduced again for the brand new sequel, Freakier Friday, which reunites Curtis and Lohan. Solely now, issues are a bit totally different: Anna is the one shouting “Make good selections!” and consequently mortifying her personal teenage daughter, Harper (Julia Butters). Tess sits behind the wheel, rolling her eyes. “You might be so lame,” she tells her.
It’s a humorous twist for anybody who’s seen the primary movie, nevertheless it hits tougher for millennials who grew up with Lohan onscreen. Twenty-two years after the Lohan-Curtis Freaky Friday’s debut, the long-awaited sequel we thought may by no means get made is right here — and against all odds, it’s truly form of nice. Freakier Friday, directed by Nisha Ganatra, is an enthralling love letter to Lohan and her technology, and marks the actress’ official comeback. So get in, loser. We’re going to the Lohanaissance.
First issues first: Anna is way from lame. She’s not even a daily mother — she’s a cool mother. She deserted her rock-star goals and her band, Pink Slip, to boost Harper on her personal, although she nonetheless writes songs privately. She’s additionally the supervisor of rising pop star Ella (performed by Never Have I Ever star Maitreyi Ramakrishnan), who’s grappling with a really public breakup. Anna is continually placing out fires, significantly when she will get known as in to Harper’s highschool to debate her daughter’s battle together with her British nemesis, Lily (Sophia Hammons). It’s there that she meets Lily’s dad, Eric (the wonderful Manny Jacinto, who goes full Swayze with a Soiled Dancing scene). It’s love at first sight, a lot to the chagrin of their rival daughters.
Six months in, Anna and Eric are engaged, and deciding whether or not to remain in California or transfer their households to England. A session with a kooky psychic (who later reveals she’s truly a Starbucks barista) performed by Vanessa Bayer brings on the physique swap. Solely it’s not simply two our bodies switching: It’s 4, with Anna and Harper swapping whereas Tess and Lily pair off. Quadruple body-swapping is formidable, and we’ll admit we had low expectations, however every actress pulls it off (Hammons as Tess, diving into ice cream: “I haven’t had dairy since Bush was president!”). Butters specifically kills it, going from surfer chick to worrying mother clutching a glass of crisp white wine, frantically making an attempt to save lots of her engagement whereas caught contained in the physique of a young person. (As with Sydney Sweeney, Margaret Qualley, Mikey Madison, and others, Once Upon a Time in … Hollywood helped kick off Butters’ profession. What the hell was within the water on that set?)
We veer into Mum or dad Lure territory as Harper and Lily, now contained in the our bodies of Lohan and Curtis, respectively, conspire to interrupt off their mother and father’ engagement. However Ganatra takes issues a step additional with a Meredith Blake cameo, as Elaine Hendrix performs a Rolling Stone editor at Ella’s picture shoot; we will neither verify nor deny that Rolling Stone asks musicians to decorate up as strawberry shortcakes. It wouldn’t have been stunning to see different Mum or dad Lure Easter eggs: Hendrix sipping an Evian water bottle, Chessy getting into with a plate of chocolate chip pancakes, and the place on earth is tie-dye woman? Lohan has been playing along with all of the nostalgia, although she swears the Oct. 3 marriage ceremony date for Anna and Eric, a.ok.a. Imply Women Day, was an accident. Certain, Jan.
In the meantime, pre-switch, Curtis is “Gram,” the heartwarming type who bakes cookies for her granddaughter at 4 a.m. and takes too lengthy deciding when it’s her flip at a four-way cease. She’s nonetheless a therapist, and regardless of crowd-surfing at her final talk-show interview, she’s continued to put in writing profitable books. If a few of the jokes on this movie don’t work, relaxation simple understanding none of them are Curtis cracks. After her intense dramatic function in The Bear, it’s refreshing to see her in a lighter, funnier function; she completely owns scenes involving the donning of lip plumper for passport photographs, or by accident successful a pickleball match towards Grace and Frankie’s June Diane Raphael.
Curtis’ greatest scene, although, is when she (as Lily) and Lohan (as Harper) go to Jake, performed by Chad Michael Murray, reprising his function. He’s moved on from his barista days and is now the proprietor of a file retailer, the basic hot-guy profession trajectory. He’s clutching a stack of Pink Slip information for Anna to signal for charity, however Harper makes an entire idiot of herself in quite a lot of ways in which aren’t even a bit bit humorous. In the meantime, Tess is hiding behind information, writhing on the bottom, directing Anna with attractive cues. When Jake lastly spots Tess/Lily in between the aisles, he begins to pine for her and their “Child One Extra Time” days. It’s all a bit Excessive Constancy — did Jake hearken to music as a result of he was depressing, or was he depressing as a result of he listened to music?
Different characters return, together with Mark Harmon as Ryan (who has about two traces), and Anna’s brother, Harry (Ryan Malgarini, who has even fewer). Pei-Pei and her mother (Rosalind Chao and Lucille Soong, respectively), the Chinese language restaurant house owners who brought on the 2003 physique swap, make a cameo at Anna’s bachelorette occasion. Sadly, Harold Gould, who performed the earthquake-fearing grandpa within the authentic, died in 2010, and Willie Garson, who performed Tess’ neurotic affected person Evan, died in 2021. However no less than we get some scenes with our favourite substitute instructor, Elton Bates (Stephen Tobolowsky), who’s as soon as once more operating detention, this time forcing his Gen Z college students to choose up trash off the bottom.
And thank god for Pink Slip. Anna reunites together with her previous bandmates (Christina Vidal and Haley Hudson) onstage on the Wiltern, they usually carry out “Baby,” her tender ode to Harper. Then they dial it up for a scorching “Take Me Away,” and it’s euphoric to see Lohan shredding the guitar in any case these years. It’s a feel-good Disney second in a movie filled with them, full with vogue montages, wacky science lab experiments, and meals fights. And Lohan is dynamite as Anna, whether or not she’s rocking her blazer round Capitol Information, using round in Jake’s purple Camaro, or browsing in a badass Blue Crush scene. She’s returning at precisely the suitable time, when millennials are nostalgic for his or her youth, and youthful generations are bringing again shoulder baggage and low-rise denims. That’s to not say the movie doesn’t make enjoyable of millennials — there are some hilarious jabs, like how Fb is “a database of previous folks” and Coldplay and John Mayer suck. However if you happen to really feel like catching up with the Colemans and revisiting some early aughts magic, Freakier Friday is an effective selection.
From Rolling Stone US.