Let’s face it, movie-wise, this summer sucks. I refuse to blame it
on all of the stupid teenage boys who are hungry for crazy action
pictures, girls that love chick-flicks, or even those comic-book
geeks, awaiting adaptations of their favorite superheroes’ stories
to come to life. I believe that the reason that I’ve seen so many
bad films lately is because they’ve been targeted at specific,
tiny, target audiences. I will enjoy a movie that I seem every now
and then, because I’m a member of one of these targets. This way
of making and marketing motion pictures isn’t going to change
anytime soon, either; the works of most moviemakers are racking in
enormous amounts of cash at the box office. Before Freaky
Friday, I felt hopeless—almost every movie of the summer I had
gone to before it had been a waste of time.
This movie puts the ‘family’ back into
the family films. I’ve said this many times before about other
flicks of this nature, but I won’t hesitate to repeat myself.
Freaky Friday has something for every member of the
family. Just by viewing the previews, I knew that women and girls
would adore it, simply because the material is right up their
alley. But what really surprised me, is that even the most
straight-faced, maniac men and boys will like it, too. I don’t
think that anyone will be able to resist the hilarious sense of
humor that the writing in Freaky Friday offers, males
in particular, very strangely. If your family has already seen the
treasures of two months ago, Whale Rider and
Finding Nemo, this movie is definitely the one to spend a
night at the local multiplex viewing.
A remake of the 1976 film by Gary
Nelson, which starred Jodie Foster and Barbara Harris, this try at
Freaky Friday is remarkably fresh, considering the
circumstances. The story, albeit predictable, successfully
executes the now not-so-normal body-swapping formula. Fifteen
year-old Anna (Lindsey Lohan) is, nowadays, considered a version
of your typical teenage girl. She’s in a rock band, lives in a
suburban neighborhood, has a good group of friend, and thinks her
life is everything but perfect. She’s got a crazy, hyper little
brother (Ryan Malgarini) bugging her all the time, and she and her
mom, Tess (Jamie Lee Curtis), are always constantly arguing. Anna
thinks that Tess has the perfect life, and Tess thinks the same
about Anna. It’s going to take a tiny bit more than communication
for the two to begin to understand each other.
This understanding begins to rapidly
increase after a family dinner, two days before Tess’s wedding,
where she will be marrying for the second time. After having an
argument at the Chinese restaurant Anna and Tess eating dinner at,
with three others, they are given a pair of all-powerful fortune
cookies. The message inside of both of them says exactly the same
thing. After reading it, Anna and Tess think that the ground is
shaking for a moment, and that has just been an earthquake.
However, no one else in the restaurant felt a thing. At
12AM that night, in their
sleep, Anna and Tess magically switch bodies. The fortune cookies
that they both ate brought this upon them. The employee at the
restaurant who gave them to Anna and Tess saw them arguing, and
intentionally did this, by giving the fortune cookies to them.
Until the two can find a way to switch back, Anna will have to
experience life in Tess’s shoes, and Tess will have to do so in
Anna’s. They will finally be able to discover, for themselves, how
the other’s life feels, on a day-to-day basis.
While Curtis will take most of the
credit for her performance in Freaky Friday, and is
undoubtedly good, I truly feel that Lohan is the best in this
movie. Her way of mimicking (and often mocking) the body-language,
emotions, expressions, and methods of talking of mothers and
middle-aged women is hilarious, and if I do say so myself, pretty
damn accurate. The word to define Lohan’s work is ambitious. We
never feel as though she’s hesitant, or holding back, in any frame
of the film. She, obviously, has a fondness for acting in remakes,
also starring in 1998’s The Parent Trap. I would
assume performing in this type of movie is easier than original,
new ones, but I could be wrong. It could be very difficult for an
actor/actress to find a new, fresh way to play a character that’s
already done before—if you look at it that way. I’m awaiting
Lohan’s next movie Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen,
not because I have any interest in the subject matter (nor will I
ever), but because I want to see if she actually has as much
talent as I think
This version of Freaky Friday
really is the same movie as the original, at heart, even though
some massive changes have been made—to keep it modern, and such.
It’s not great, but as far as movies go these days, it’s superb
family fun. I admire the two leads’ work, and can say, they really
make this the film that it is. Freaky Friday was a
real freaky surprise (how much more cornier can I get, right?).
Definitely worth a watch in theatres, this one is about as
entertaining as they come. At any rate, go and see it.
-Danny,
Bucket Reviews
