So, finally, I decided to watch “Freakier Friday” while I was chilling with my extended family. No one seemed interested in the movie but me, but I was the one who turned it on anyway. Here’s probably why no one was interested in the movie.
One, only me and two best friends have seen the original, and two, no one was in the living room when I turned it on originally. Any who, “Freakier Friday” is not a bad movie, as many of the reviews I came across when the movie was released said. “Freakier Friday” is a terrible movie to release in theaters. This film should have debuted on Paramount+ or Amazon Prime. I can see how critics were like, “Thanks but it’s a no from us.”
Anna and Tess are still getting on each other’s nerves but this time, Anna is a mom and Tess is a grandma to a lovely (exaggeration) girl Anna named Harper. Harper is a typical angsty teen because how else would she be in a movie like this. Anna and Tess have been to therapy, so they communicate a little differently in this film. Throughout the movie, they constantly pause to remind us of what they learned in therapy, which is quite annoying to me, personally. What I could not understand in this film is why they said that Anna decided to become a single parent. The only reason that I can think of, where someone would choose to be a single parent, is if they used donor sperm. This felt more like her, and Harper’s father didn’t work out, and she just decided to raise Harper alone with no help from the dad. Either way, you could have just said she was a single mom.
Moving on, of course, Harper has an arch nemesis at school by the name of Lily. One day, Anna takes Harper to school, runs into a handsome man in the hallway named Eric, and after six months, they’re engaged. Did I mention this man is the father of Harper’s arch nemesis? So this is where most of the conflict begins. In true “Freaky Friday” fashion, a body swap happens, but it’s not quite what I was expecting.
Here’s what I loved. The heart of the story is the girls better understanding their parents love for each other. That part of the story they did extremely well. The one thing that was missing that I was sure I was going to see was more of Anna and Tess as Harper and Lily in school. Instead, it was those two reminiscing on all the things that can’t do with their bodies because they’re older but can do because the girls are teens. It was funny. I laughed a lot but we saw the girls have to navigate real life as adults while the actual adults were just running around doing anything.
Another thing that bugged me was the fact that Tess and Lily switched places, and it didn’t seem to pay off until the end of the movie. Felt like a waste of a swap. I get why you wouldn’t want her to switch with her dad, but it wasn’t fun to see those two as each other like it was for Harper and Anna. You didn’t learn anything with that swap. We learned a little bit about Lily and her mom, but thaw was due in part because of the friendship the girls created after spending more time together and not because she swapped bodies with Tess.
I had an ok time watching this film. The end wrapped up too quick but Anna and Harper coming together to perform at the end was sweet. But again, I want to reiterate that this should have been a movie made to stream—not to be in theaters. I am very happy to see all the originals come back for this film. Even Chad Michael Murray who played Jake. I caution to say we could have done more with him, but I think we did just enough.
Tell me, have you watched “Freakier Friday” and did it live up to your expectations?
