It feels like just yesterday that Anna (Lindsay Lohan) was rocking a red guitar and Tess (Jamie Lee Curtis) was preparing to marry Ryan (Mark Harmon). But it’s been 22 years since the release of Freaky Friday, a film that defined a generation. Now, Disney finally returns to the body-swap comedy with the sequel Freakier Friday.
Directed by Nisha Ganatra (from Late Night), the film picks up with the characters two decades later, exploring the effects of time. Tess is still married to Ryan, but Anna didn’t work out with Jake (Chad Michael Murray). Now, she’s a single mom to Harper (Julia Butters), a girl who causes the same kind of chaos Anna once did.
Things get even more interesting when Anna falls for Eric (Manny Jacinto), a widower and the father of Lily (Sophia Hammons), Harper’s nemesis at school. Of course, the magic happens again and the characters — Anna, Tess, Harper, and Lily — swap bodies: Tess becomes Lily, Anna becomes Harper. Now it’s not just about being in someone else’s body, but learning to connect with younger generations.
Origins
Not everyone knows that Freaky Friday wasn’t originally created by Disney. And the 2003 film wasn’t the first adaptation either. It all began in 1972 when Mary Rodgers published a children’s book about a mom and daughter who swapped bodies one random Friday. It became a hit, leading to a 1976 movie version titled If I Were My Mother starring Jodie Foster. The real cultural impact, though, came 30 years later.
In Freaky Friday, the challenge was updating an old story to resonate with a new generation. Director Mark Waters nailed it, blending rock and teen comedy in a way that spoke to the 2000s. Now, Ganatra faces the same challenge: capturing a new audience while embracing nostalgia.
Emotion, truth, and lots of laughs
Once again, the result is surprisingly good. Freaky Friday is still the better movie, sure. But Freakier Friday balances different generations quite well. The story of misunderstood teens and clueless parents still resonates. And the chemistry between Curtis and Lohan is a nostalgic delight — they’re clearly having fun.
The best moments come when they share the screen, embodying younger characters while trying to grasp the mindset of the older ones. There’s some physical comedy too — not as slapstick, but as a way to comment on generational gaps, aches and pains, and pill bottles. It’s still a story about generational clashes.
Freakier Friday: the sequel challenge
Even with all its fun, the movie leans hard into sequel clichés. That balance between honoring old characters and introducing new ones is built on shaky ground. The film repeats many of the same beats.
Still, while it doesn’t innovate much, it delivers laughs. And Freakier Friday, despite its flaws, brings genuine heart. It continues the story of Anna and Tess in a way that feels fresh and relevant for today’s audiences. Possibly Disney’s best family film of 2025.
