How Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan bring a fun, fresh twist on the body-swap comedy in Freakier Friday

Trouble starts when Harper clashes with Lily (Sophia Hammons), her princess-like British lab partner at school. Things get messier when Anna starts dating — and quickly gets engaged to — Lily’s father Eric (Manny Jacinto). Both teens are horrified at the thought of becoming stepsisters. But the real mayhem kicks in during Anna’s bachelorette party, when an eccentric fortune teller sets off a supernatural twist: Tess and Lily swap bodies, as do Anna and Harper. Four lives are turned upside down overnight, forcing everyone to walk, talk and think like someone else — with hilarious, and occasionally touching, results.

The good

Jamie is an unstoppable comic force. Whether she’s navigating the indignities of teenage fashion trends or struggling with the “crevices” of an older face, her full-throttle commitment makes every scene pop. She thrives on physical comedy, yet still sneaks in moments of warmth and vulnerability.

Lindsay, for her part, delivers her most confident performance since her acting return, capturing both the awkwardness and insight of a teenager suddenly inhabiting her mother’s world. The joy she brings to the role is palpable, and her chemistry with Curtis remains as strong as ever.

Julie and Sophia shine as the younger bodies hosting older souls, tossing off sharp one-liners about bad knees, Facebook’s “grandparent” demographic and the simple pleasure of junk food. Manny is effortlessly charming as Eric, while returning faces like Chad Michael Murray and Mark Harmon serve as crowd-pleasing callbacks for longtime fans. Nisha Ganatra keeps the pace sprightly, layering in Easter eggs — from Pink Slip references to The Parent Trap nods — without drowning the story in nostalgia.

The bad

The film stumbles slightly in its early stretch, taking a bit too long to get to the main swap. A handful of side plots — such as the bureaucratic marriage inspection — drag down the momentum. Some of the generational humour leans on familiar beats from the first film, and a few jokes about millennial–Gen Z disconnect feel recycled.

While Lindsay is in fine form, Jamie’s sheer comedic abandon occasionally overshadows her, and the story shies away from digging deeper into weightier themes like identity and body image. These could have added a richer layer to the chaos without dulling the laughs.

The verdict

Freakier Friday works because it sticks to what the franchise does best — using absurd circumstances to highlight the bonds between family members. The quadruple swap injects fresh energy into the familiar formula, the cast clearly revels in the material, and the blend of slapstick and sentiment hits just the right balance by the end.