Freaky Friday

Ealasaid/ August 6, 2003/ Movie Reviews and Features

Directed by: Mark S. Waters
Starring: Jamie Lee Curtis, Lindsay Lohan, Mark Harmon, Harold Gould, Chad Murray
Rated: PG for mild thematic elements and some language.
Running Time: 93 min.
Parental Notes: This is a great film for all ages, especially for those who live with a teenager. The film’s message – that life isn’t easy, no matter what your age, and that your family really does love you, no matter how lame they can be at times – is a good one, and the acting is a delight.

Rebellious teens and their moms are traditionally at constant loggerheads, with the youths warbling, “you’re ruining my life!” and the moms trying to be patient. Anna and Tess Coleman are no exception to this rule until a pair of magical fortune cookies cause them to swap bodies in this update of the 1976 movie of the same title.

Tess Coleman (Jamie Lee Curtis) is a working mom, a widowed psychologist with two children and a fiancée. She juggles a schedule of neurotic patients, a sweet-but-bratty young son, and a garage-rock guitarist daughter, who is going through a Disney-style rebellious phase (which means she works hard in school, obeys her mom’s orders not to ride on motorcycles with older boys, and merely complains that her life is being ruined rather than actively ruining it herself).

Daughter Anna (Lindsay Lohan) is fifteen, frustrated with her mom’s inability to understand the difficulties of her life, and desperate for her band to make the big time. She’s also angry that her late father’s place is being taken by Ryan (Mark Harmon), her mom’s fiancée, and fed up with her obnoxious little brother.

When Tess and Anna get into a fight at their favorite Chinese restaurant, the restaurant owner’s mother (Lucille Soong) overhears and decides they would benefit from a little time spent seeing through each other’s eyes. The next morning, the two wake up in each others’ bodies, and after a few minutes of horror (“I look like the Crypt Keeper!” Anna wails), they come to grips with their situation.

Now Tess and Anna have to not only keep their plight from being discovered (Tess, as a psychologist, knows the dangers of claiming that one has switched bodies with someone), but survive a very long day as each other – a day which includes Tess’ wedding rehearsal dinner and Anna’s band’s chance at the big time, an audition at the House of Blues.

Some of the scenes are predictable: Anna gives her mother’s body a makeover, complete with haircut and a new wardrobe bought with her mother’s platinum card. Tess, in Anna’s body, tries to make amends with the cheerleader who torments Anna at school, and is tricked into getting detention. Anna tries to deal with her mother’s patients. Tess discovers that Anna’s English teacher really does have it in for her, and reads him the riot act. Tess rebuffs the older boy Anna has been flirting with, while Anna, in her mother’s body, so intrigues him that soon he’s trying to persuade this “older woman” not to get married.

Unsurprising, yes, but far more charming and enjoyable than one might expect. Lohan has an internal seriousness that makes her mother-trying-to-pretend-to-be-daughter performance believable. Curtis has always been good with physical comedy and wit, and her slouching, attitude-filled teenager-in-a-grownup-body is a joy to watch. Both actresses are clearly having a great time with their roles, and its impossible not to have a great time along with them.

At times the film is a bit heavy-handed, with Anna pretending to be her mother at a parent-teacher conference and learning that her little brother really does love her, and a tear-jerker-sweet finale with Anna and Tess finally understanding each other. Even the closing credits get into the act, with “Happy Together” playing after Anna’s band plays at her mother’s wedding.

This is a Disney movie, though, and such point-pushing is to be expected. Besides, with a moral as simple and well-taken as this one (life isn’t easy, no matter what your age, and your family really does love you, no matter how lame they can be at times), it’s forgivable. This is a comedy for all ages, and particularly for those who live with teenagers.

Theater Review:
Century Berryessa 10
1171 North Capitol Avenue, San Jose
(408) 926-7091 

Although the Berryessa 10 is one of the early multiplexes in the area and hardly a teched-up gadget-wonder, it’s a solid theater with good furnishings and equipment. The seats and bathrooms may not be new, but they’re comfortable and clean.

At the concession stand, the popcorn is fresh, the sodas well-mixed, and the candy selection (which includes both boxed and loose candy) is decent. You can have an Icee or some ice cream to cool off, too.

Although the slides before “Freaky Friday” were out of date (one mentioned that Mothers’ Day was coming up soon), the music wafting over the PA system was instrumental and free of the DJ chatter other movie houses seem to feel is necessary. The Berryessa 10 is a solid theater worth going to if you want to avoid the crowds at the bigger, newer multiplexes without sacrificing quality.

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