ALSO ON ABS-CBN
“Freakier Friday” is more interested in being fun than being funny, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. After catching an advance screening at SM Mall of Asia, I texted a friend in the U.S. to confirm if it’s already summer over there. And that context matters. This isn’t the kind of movie meant to be dissected. It’s made for families looking to kick back, suspend disbelief, and enjoy a nostalgic summer comedy, something that doesn’t overstay its welcome and doesn’t ask much more from you than to just go along for the ride.
Directed by Nisha Ganatra and based on Mary Rodgers’ beloved “Freaky Friday,” this sequel picks up years after Tess (Jamie Lee Curtis) and Anna Coleman (Lindsay Lohan) last swapped bodies. Anna is now a mom to teenage Harper (Julia Butters) and is engaged to a British chef named Eric Davies (Manny Jacinto), whose daughter Lily (Sophia Hammons) immediately butts heads with Harper. Their mutual dislike sets the stage for a chaotic four-way body swap involving Tess, Anna, Harper, and Lily.
The setup sticks close to the original, but this time, it plays less like a rehash and more like a reflection on growth, time, and how the messiness of family evolves rather than disappears. Anna, the punk rocker turned therapist-mom, now speaks in affirmations and parenting mantras. Tess, fully in grandma mode, remains the steady one, still grounding the chaos around her. Their personal conflicts have cooled, but the next generation — Harper and Lily — is where the tension now lives. The sharper comedic edges of the first film have mostly been softened into warmer, more sentimental rhythms.
The swap happens early, but not necessarily in a way that feels earned. It’s a bit undercooked, like the movie’s in a rush to get to the good stuff. Harper and Anna wake up in each other’s bodies, and, more unexpectedly, so do Lily and Tess.
Curtis’s body-swap performance easily gets the biggest laughs, thanks to the film’s barrage of age jokes once she’s inside Lily’s teenage body. The arthritis punchline had me. So did the moment she basically calls Coldplay fans ancient. Curtis throws herself into the chaos with giddy, unselfconscious joy, and you can tell she’s having the time of her life.
But beneath the gags, the film’s emotional core is all about Curtis and Lohan sharing the screen again. That’s honestly the best part of “Freakier Friday,” watching them fall right back into rhythm like no time has passed. Curtis, now with an Oscar in her pocket, brings a looseness and assurance that makes even the goofiest scenes work. As for Lohan, her return isn’t loud or showy, but it hits. I grew up admiring her. She was the first Disney Channel princess I really looked up to, and seeing her back here — not as a punchline, not as a throwback cameo, but as a co-lead and co-producer — feels like a quiet, earned victory. She’s still got the warmth and vulnerability. But most of all, she looks like she’s just genuinely enjoying herself, too. And there’s something deeply satisfying about that.
The spotlight naturally falls on Curtis and Lohan, especially once the body swap kicks in. They’re the headliners, after all. But that focus means Butters and Hammons are left circling the edges. Their storyline struggles to find the emotional rhythm it’s aiming for, and the four-way swap can get a little confusing if you’re not fully tuned in. It’s a bold structural swing, but it sacrifices some clarity compared to the tighter, two-character setup of the original.
The movie leans heavily on nostalgia. Chad Michael Murray shows up as Anna’s ex-boyfriend, Jake. Mark Harmon returns as Tess’s husband. Even Anna’s band, Pink Slip, gets a quick encore. These moments land, but sometimes feel like narrative crutches designed to give fans a jolt of recognition more than to push the story forward. Still, they add to the film’s cozy, full-circle vibe.
Then there’s Manny Jacinto, who might be the film’s most surprising strength. His British accent takes a second to adjust to, but his natural charisma carries every scene he’s in. He radiates warmth and adds a fresh dynamic to the Coleman family chaos. As my partner said after the screening, “It’s wild seeing Filipino references in a sequel to a movie I watched as a kid.” That kind of inclusion, subtle, unforced, adds another layer to a film that’s clearly trying to evolve while still playing the hits.
Sure, “Freakier Friday” has its gaps. The absence of any mention of Harper’s biological father is a glaring omission for anyone invested in Anna’s story post-2003. Some arcs don’t get the attention they deserve. The emotional stakes don’t hit quite as hard. But none of that really breaks the spell. You don’t come to this franchise for airtight logic or complex storytelling. You come because it’s fun. And fun is something this sequel delivers, even when it’s a little uneven.
With Lohan and Curtis producing, it’s clear they knew what fans wanted: a mix of nostalgia, chaos, and heart. And they delivered. “Freakier Friday” may not be as iconic or laugh-out-loud as its predecessor, but it doesn’t need to be. It’s a warm, welcome return to characters we’ve missed and actors we’re lucky to see again.
If this is “Freakier,” then bring on “Freakiest.” Just don’t make us wait until 2047 to get there. — WALPHS.com