freaky friday

Well, well, we’ll look who scored a ticket to a press screening of Freakier Friday! This little blog through no affiliation with the actual blog at all! Which is to say, yes, I found myself at an embargoed screening of a major motion picture release. And yes, I decided I must find a way to participate in the fun of it, bringing me back here after so many months away. Although, I do feel a little bit like the crewman in the lifeboat at the end of Titanic.

Let me be brief here because I’m sure there are several reviews you can read from qualified critics being released at the same time as this one, Lindsay Lohan is back y’all! I don’t care about some Netflix holiday whatever, this is her comeback and it is magnificent!

Paired again with national treasure and Academy Award winner, Jamie Lee Curtis, Lohan not only shines comedically, but also masterfully navigates the films more heart wrenching moments. Like its predecessor, this movie is about grief and new beginnings. Lohan’s Anna is due to wed British national, Eric (The Good Place’s Manny Jacinto), and struggling to navigate the blending of two single parent households into one nuclear family. Anna’s daughter, Harper (Julia Butters), is close with Curtis’s “Grams,” who 2003 viewers may know better as Tess. And not only does she hate her would-be step-sister, played by Sophia Hammons, but she hates the thought of moving to London even more.

Thank God, a Starbucks Barista multi-hyphenate psychic, played by Vanessa Bayer, intervenes with a four way body switch. (And I do appreciate that the sequel acknowledges the inherent body horror of this by playing with some horror movie editing in a light way that shouldn’t be too scary for most kids but definitely would have freaked me out in kindergarten).

Somehow, Freakier Friday manages to be both funnier and more heartfelt than the original. It made me cry three times and that’s only because I was too busy laughing during every other moment of this film. And there’s plenty of fan service here, all the OG members of Pink Slip are back, Marc Harmon is still the guy you’re glad your mom married, and the kids are still attending Sunset Ridge with Stephen Tobolowsky’s Mr. Bates (who tragically cannot retire due to the school district investing his retirement fund in crypto).

If there’s one low-hanging fruit criticism of 2003’s Freaky Friday, it’s that it unsurprisingly feels formulaic at times. It’s hard to take a fresh look at a movie that’s been done twice before (and based on a book). And though the mixed family element was a new lens back then, much of it still felt plug and play. Freakier Friday is not that. I’m largely sick of sequels and reboots, but if they make more of them in the vein of this movie, I will gladly see them.

Also, (spoiler warning here) Chad Michael Murray’s character still has a crush on Jamie Lee Curtis’s character, and it’s just as uncomfortable, in the best way possible, as it was in 2003.

Okay, I wrote this on the notes app of my phone and I’m about to copy/paste, so if you hate this review and it’s multi-clause sentences because I am RUSHING, then go read Variety. Bye!!

I don’t usually see prompts on the daily post that fit this blog, but today’s post caught my eye. Today’s prompt is to imagine that you have had a reverse-Big experience. I’m not sure if it’s possible to exist on this planet and have NOT seen that classic Tom Hanks movie, but– in case you’ve missed it or your memory is a bit rusty–Big is a movie about a little boy who wishes to be an adult. His wish comes true and he turns into this twelve year-old man-child.

Normally, I am of the opinion that being an adult is way cooler than being a kid. I feel more self-confident, I have more freedom, and I’m not forced into awful adolescent growing pains around kids I don’t really like. But recently, I’ve been feeling pretty overwhelmed with “grown up problems,” so the idea of being twelve years old again feels very welcoming. There would be so many things I wouldn’t have to worry about–like paying my bills and always eating a well balanced meal. Plus, believe it or not, I actually loved middle school. I thought it was a blast. Sure, sixth grade was definitely an adjustment (and full of the most heartache by far) but my memories of seventh and eighth grade are definitely some of the most fun of my life. Those memories are full of people I adored, but who I know nothing about these days. There were a few falling outs along the way and others I simply grew apart from. I guess being a reverse man-child (so child-woman?) would suck in the sense that I would have all of this foreknowledge. And being an adult in a child’s body seems much less innocent than being a child in an adults body. So I don’t know if I could honestly participate in all of the ridiculous things I did as a kid if I was suddenly “Zoltar-ed” back to childhood. But it sure would be fun to pass notes in history class and steal my best friend’s lip gloss again.

So how does this daily prompt relate to The Very Special Blog, you ask? Well, everyone always seems to think the grass is greener on the other side, including Alex Mack and her mom, Barbara. The Secret World of Alex Mack was a cool suburban sci-fi show that always managed to be a little spooky without being scary. Alex Mack is just an average girl who happens to be the victim of a chemical spill, which gave her special powers. These special powers include telekinesis and being able to dissolve into a mostly transparent goo. Alex’s mom gets caught up in her goo at the most timely manner (they have just been arguing about who has it harder college-student-mom or high-school-student-daughter) and the two switch bodies. Alex is lucky in that she has a super-smart sister, Annie, who is the only one who knows that she can morph into liquid. This also means that she has one person who will believe the utterly ridiculous fact that she has switched bodies with their mom.

Meanwhile, Alex’s mom tries to get back home, but she is forced into going to school when one of Alex’s friends finds her trying to sneak away from campus. Alex’s mom seems to know that she is in a child’s body but this does not keep her from challenging adults and calling herself a “grown woman” even though she’s like fourteen at the moment. That definitely is the suck-y part of being a kid. You are pretty much always at the mercy of other people. Sure, you grow up and you go to work and you cannot “ditch” work just like you cannot ditch school, but people never question it when you say you have to go to the bathroom or that you need to go home sick. I’m sure plenty of adults are fakers too…well I mean I know for a fact that they are…but you can’t be like “excuse me, it’s RUDE to leave the meeting to pee. Sit down and raise your hand before you speak.” On the flip side, Alex realizes how little time her mom has for herself because she’s super busy trying to run a family and also be a person. Also, Alex’s mom finds out she has super powers, the chemical plant that spilled stuff all over her sends out creepy men to take her away, and then it all turns out to be a dream! But just because it was a all a dream does not mean we failed to learn a very special lesson.

Very Special Lesson: Kids should be kids and adults should be adults. The grass will always look greener on the other side…but I really would like a break from decision making and fending for myself once in a while. Also, what’s the harm in a little chemical spill now and again?

Want to figure out what you’re own age-switch would be like? Check out the daily prompt here: Zoltar’s Revenge