Freaky Friday (2003)
3/4
Starring: Jamie Lee Curtis, Lindsay Lohan, Mark Harmon, Ryan Malgarini, Chad Michael Murray
Rated PG for Mild Thematic Elements and Some Language
Some movies deserve to be remade because the story can be relevant to a new audience with some new tweaks and spins. I don't recall much of the original film incarnation of "Freaky Friday" (which starred Barbara Harris and Jodie Foster as the mother and daughter) except for an exploding typewriter. That being said, an update isn't unwarranted because the story's theme, that friction between parents and kids is due in part to the fact that they don't often understand each other) will always be relevant. And thirty years is about enough time for a generation to change.
Anna (Lohan) is in a tough spot because her band has the chance of a lifetime: a "Battle of the Bands"-ish competition is about to take place, and after one of the bands drops out, they have a shot at stardom. The problem is that the competition falls on the night of the rehearsal dinner for her mother Tess's (Curtis) wedding to Ryan (Harmon). Asking her mother's permission to ditch the rehearsal dinner to play in a concert is almost futile to begin with, but Anna and Tess's relationship is strained to the point of all out war. When things finally boil over at dinner at a Chinese restaurant, they are given fortune cookies by the mother of the restaurant's owner. When they wake up the next morning, they've switched bodies with each other. Now they'll have to survive the day (which has important events for each) and figure out why this happened and how to undo it.
There are many laudable qualities to this production, but if there's one reason to see this movie, it's Jamie Lee Curtis. Curtis, whose career got a jump start after the genre-defining horror classic "Halloween" and has since gone on to include the overrated John Cleese movie, "A Fish Called Wanda," and one of my favorite movies, "True Lies." Curtis is absolutely hysterical. Every scene in which she appears is guaranteed to keep the viewer in stitches (or at the end, heartwarming).
Less successful is Lindsay Lohan. Lohan (this was before her personal life had become tabloid fodder) is good, but is almost always overshadowed by Curtis. Part of it is because of how here character is written (a problem solver's solutions exploding in her face isn't as funny as a adult acting like a teenage girl), but part of it is because Lohan isn't as strong of an actress as Curtis. There are some scenes that come across like an after school special.
The supporting cast is adequate, although Curtis and Lohan dominate the movie. The character of Anna's grandfather (Harold Gould) doesn't work, and while Chad Michael Murray is certainly hot enough to be a heartthrob, he's not always convincing.
The script, by Heather Hach and Leslie Dixon, is insightful and incisive, but a lot of the film's bite is undone because director Mark Waters plays things too broadly. Still, even if it were a disaster, which it isn't at all, it would be worth it just to see Curtis.
Starring: Jamie Lee Curtis, Lindsay Lohan, Mark Harmon, Ryan Malgarini, Chad Michael Murray
Rated PG for Mild Thematic Elements and Some Language
Some movies deserve to be remade because the story can be relevant to a new audience with some new tweaks and spins. I don't recall much of the original film incarnation of "Freaky Friday" (which starred Barbara Harris and Jodie Foster as the mother and daughter) except for an exploding typewriter. That being said, an update isn't unwarranted because the story's theme, that friction between parents and kids is due in part to the fact that they don't often understand each other) will always be relevant. And thirty years is about enough time for a generation to change.
Anna (Lohan) is in a tough spot because her band has the chance of a lifetime: a "Battle of the Bands"-ish competition is about to take place, and after one of the bands drops out, they have a shot at stardom. The problem is that the competition falls on the night of the rehearsal dinner for her mother Tess's (Curtis) wedding to Ryan (Harmon). Asking her mother's permission to ditch the rehearsal dinner to play in a concert is almost futile to begin with, but Anna and Tess's relationship is strained to the point of all out war. When things finally boil over at dinner at a Chinese restaurant, they are given fortune cookies by the mother of the restaurant's owner. When they wake up the next morning, they've switched bodies with each other. Now they'll have to survive the day (which has important events for each) and figure out why this happened and how to undo it.
There are many laudable qualities to this production, but if there's one reason to see this movie, it's Jamie Lee Curtis. Curtis, whose career got a jump start after the genre-defining horror classic "Halloween" and has since gone on to include the overrated John Cleese movie, "A Fish Called Wanda," and one of my favorite movies, "True Lies." Curtis is absolutely hysterical. Every scene in which she appears is guaranteed to keep the viewer in stitches (or at the end, heartwarming).
Less successful is Lindsay Lohan. Lohan (this was before her personal life had become tabloid fodder) is good, but is almost always overshadowed by Curtis. Part of it is because of how here character is written (a problem solver's solutions exploding in her face isn't as funny as a adult acting like a teenage girl), but part of it is because Lohan isn't as strong of an actress as Curtis. There are some scenes that come across like an after school special.
The supporting cast is adequate, although Curtis and Lohan dominate the movie. The character of Anna's grandfather (Harold Gould) doesn't work, and while Chad Michael Murray is certainly hot enough to be a heartthrob, he's not always convincing.
The script, by Heather Hach and Leslie Dixon, is insightful and incisive, but a lot of the film's bite is undone because director Mark Waters plays things too broadly. Still, even if it were a disaster, which it isn't at all, it would be worth it just to see Curtis.
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