By: Quinn Que
Disney’s Freakier Friday attempts to recapture the magic of its 2003 predecessor with a multigenerational twist starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan. However, this sequel feels more like a calculated nostalgia play than a genuine creative endeavor. While the film has its charming moments, it ultimately struggles to justify its existence beyond banking on audience affection for the original.
Years after Tess (Jamie Lee Curtis) and Anna (Lindsay Lohan) endured their original identity crisis, Anna now has a daughter of her own, Harper (Julia Butters), and is engaged to Eric (Manny Jacinto), whose teenage daughter Lily (Sophia Hammons) is dead set on splitting up their would-be blended family. As the three generations of mothers and daughters navigate the challenges that come when two families merge, they discover that lightning can indeed strike twice. The body-swapping chaos now involves all four females switching places, creating a more complex but less focused narrative that dilutes the simple charm that made the original work.
The film’s standout moments come from watching Curtis and Lohan navigate their multi-generational swap scenarios, particularly when they have to interact with the younger characters while trapped in different bodies. Manny Jacinto delivers a charming, if bland, performance as Anna’s husband-to-be Eric, bringing genuine warmth to what could have been a thankless role. However, the film struggles with pacing during its middle act and the more complicated body-swap mechanics often feel forced rather than organic, lacking the effortless comedy that made the original’s simpler premise so effective.
Director Nisha Ganatra brings competent craftsmanship to the material, but her direction lacks the fresh perspective needed to elevate what is essentially a retread. The script by Jordan Weiss, with story credit for Elyse Hollander, is a middling followup to the 2003 film Freaky Friday written by Heather Hach and Leslie Dixon. The ultimate source material is technically also the 1972 Freaky Friday novel by Mary Rodgers. Audiences will think this film was just a case of too many trips to the same well, even though it gamely tries to update the story for modern sensibilities.
While Freakier Friday easily ranks among the better legacy sequels from Disney, that’s admittedly a low bar in 2025. The film delivers exactly what Disney likely hoped for—a safe, family-friendly entertainment that won’t offend anyone—and yet it rarely surprises or delights. Fans of the original may find enough nostalgic pleasure to warrant a viewing, though they’d probably be better served rewatching the 2003 version instead.