Freakier Friday Has Double the Body-Swaps, Half the Fun

Freakier Friday

★ ½

A mother, a daughter, and now…a grandmother in someone else’s body!

Freakier Friday is the long-gestating sequel to 2003’s Freaky Friday, which was one of several remakes of the 1976 film that starred Barbara Harris and Jodie Foster. Surprisingly, the 2003 version starring Jamie Lee Curtis as Tess Coleman and Lindsay Lohan as her daughter Anna was the most critically acclaimed version by audiences and critics alike.

The plot is simple, based on the book by Mary Rogers. A mother and teenage daughter are at odds and magically switch places until they learn a lesson about what it’s like to walk in one another’s shoes. Blockbuster video shelves were full of many different iterations of this concept.

Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis
© 2025 Walt Disney Pictures

Here, Tess is now a grandmother and Anna is a mom herself. Anna’s daughter Harper (Julia Butters) is about to get a step-sister in Lily Reyes (Sophia Hammons) because Anna is about to marry Lily’s dad Eric (Manny Jacinto). Harper and Lily are the same age and go to the same high school. They sort of get along at home but not so much at school. Tess and Anna are at odds again because Tess undermines Anna’s parenting. Harper and Lily are fine with their parents’ wedding but aren’t fine with what it means for them personally—namely, moving to a different place for both of them.

And this is the crux of the conflict that will set off the magical body switch between the four ladies. I guess the “freakier” part of this particular Friday is that two sets of bodies switch at the same time. I’m still not completely sure I got this right—so bear with me—the setup and actual switch are confusing as hell.

Lindsay Lohan, Julia Butters and Sophia Hammons
© 2025 Walt Disney Pictures

Tess swaps with Lily. Anna swaps with Harper. Anna and Harper’s switch makes sense—it nods to the original. But Lily and Grandma? I’ve got nothing.

Are you with me? I hope so, because I think I just confused myself.

To sum up the synopsis, the gals need to learn lessons from one another in order to unselfishly solve a big dramatic event later in the film. Then, and only then, will they return to their own human vessels.

The film would have been far less confusing, and probably funnier, had they stuck with Anna and Harper switching while Tess sat back and enjoyed observing, and Lily tried to figure out what the hell was going on.

The Pink Slips perform
© 2025 Walt Disney Pictures

There’s one endearing scene, where Anna is supposed to perform onstage at a rock concert. But Harper is in her body and doesn’t play guitar. So Anna, in Harper’s body, plugs in a guitar offstage and plays the actual riffs so Harper (yes, in Anna’s body) isn’t humiliated. It’s endearing because this gesture is more about a mother covering for her kid in an impossible situation. It’s not about mom’s career—it’s clearly about Harper’s well-being.

Manny Jacinto and Lindsay Lohan
© 2025 Walt Disney Pictures

Otherwise, the script is a sloppy mess—as if it was swapped with another screenplay from the studio’s reject bin, one scribbled on the back of a Starbucks napkin during a lunch break. The dialogue is often nonsensical, with agenda-driven lines slipped in that have no relation to the story or the conversation whatsoever.

The problem is, all that confusion kills the movie’s emotional throughline—you’re too busy untangling who’s in whose body to care about the stakes. Look, I really don’t expect you to follow all that. I’m sure there are some very astute audience members who followed the film just fine. I wasn’t one of them—I’m still not sure who switched with whom.