Reviewed by: Joe

Directed by: Mark S. Waters

Produced by: N/A

Cast: Jamie Lee Curtis, Lindsay Lohan, Mark Harmon, Chad Murray, & Stephen Tobolowsky

A tomboy teenage girl, Annabel (Lohan), and her widowed mother, Ellen (Curtis), who are always arguing with each other, simultaneously wish they could be someone else, they somehow exchange bodies, as they both learn (or in the mother's case, remembers) what it's like to be in the other person's situation. As nice as that might be, the duo faces a deadline, as the mother is due to get married soon, and doesn't want to miss the big event (obviously) or for her daughter to get to know her new stepfather (Harmon) a *lot* better than she had expected... There's also the problem of Annabel finding herself stuck with her mom's job as a medical doctor (but without any of the training to back it up)!

The story centers on the conflicting relationship between Dr. Tess Coleman and her daughter, Anna. Anna is just another typical fifteen year old teenager who enjoys rock music, plays in a garage band, and drives her mother crazy over her hair, clothes, and problems at school. Tess has enough to worry about with her rising career and her upcoming wedding. But one night while the whole family is dining at a Chinese restaurant things boil over. Anna is totally infuriated that her mother doesn’t agree with her musical aspirations and Tess is at wits end trying to get Anna to recognize how good of a man her future husband is. When the two crack open their fortune cookies and read the pieces of paper inside, something mysterious happens the next morning. Anna wakes up in Tess’ body and Tess wakes up in Anna’s body.

The two live each other’s lives for one day going through all the problems they never imagined the other had as they try to find a solution to their predicament. Whatever has to be done must be done quickly as Tess is set to marry her boyfriend the next day! The story for Freaky Friday does a great job at modernizing the classic body switching tale for a new generation though several elements of the new script end up getting lost within the course of the two hour feature.

The conflict between Anna’s former friend who is now a cheerleader was just another typical "Cheerleaders are evil" story element most teen comedies and/or dramas seem to have but wasn’t really necessary for this film.

Overall, Freaky Friday is another teen oriented comedy which can be both good and bad. Most of the problems with the film seem to be that many of the elements that are typical in a teen comedy/drama are no different here. Such elements as "cheerleaders are evil", "the bad boy is good at heart" and "some teachers are out to get certain children" got pretty annoying after awhile and weren’t needed is this feature. Then there were the scenes that show Jake (Chad Murray) becoming fascinated with Anna’s mother. Granted they were trying to show that Jake was interested in Anna’s mind and personality that was trapped in Tess’ body but it still comes out as just creepy and wrong especially when he sings "Hit Me Baby One More Time" outside their house. And as hilarious as the film was in many instances, the overall feeling was that the film resorted to too much slap stick humor.

Certainly the film didn’t have to lower itself to that level that much to be entertaining. Outside of those problems, the film was quite entertaining though not on the same level as comedies like Anger Management, Bruce Almighty, and American Wedding. If you are a teenage girl searching for an entertaining film outside of the “blow ‘em up” action flicks the box office seems to be cluttered with then certainly Freaky Friday is the film for you. If not, stick with Pirates of the Caribbean or American Wedding until the next gross out comedy or action flick opens in a few weeks.