Quartile rating: 6.5/10 · 1 rating
Mother and daughter bicker over everything -- what Anna wears, whom she likes and what she wants to do when she's older. In turn, Anna detests Tess's fiancé. When a magical fortune cookie switches their personalities, they each get a peek at how the other person feels, thinks and lives.
Freaky Friday (2003) is a competent and charming body-swap comedy that delivers exactly what its premise promises. The plot is functional and well-paced for a family comedy, hitting familiar beats of mutual misunderstanding resolved through shared experience. Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis both give energetic, committed performances — Curtis in particular earns praise for her convincing teenage mannerisms — lifting the film above its formulaic premise. Cinematography is standard Disney fare: clean, bright, and unremarkable. Novelty is low; the body-swap concept has been done many times before, including a 1976 version of the same property, and this iteration doesn't reinvent the formula in any meaningful way. The ending is satisfying within the genre's conventions, wrapping things up warmly if predictably.