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"FREAKY FRIDAY"
(2003) (Jamie Lee Curtis, Lindsay Lohan) (PG)

Alcohol/
Drugs
Blood/Gore Disrespectful/
Bad Attitude
Frightening/
Tense Scenes
Guns/
Weapons
Minor None Moderate Minor None
Imitative
Behavior
Jump
Scenes
Music
(Scary/Tense)
Music
(Inappropriate)
Profanity
Moderate None None None Mild
Sex/
Nudity
Smoking Tense Family
Scenes
Topics To
Talk About
Violence
Mild None Mild Moderate Mild


QUICK TAKE:
Comedy: A teenager and her mother must contend with how each other lives when they inadvertently switch bodies on the eve of the mother's wedding.
PLOT:
15-year-old Anna Coleman (LINDSAY LOHAN) is a typical teenager who likes hanging out with her friends, is constantly annoyed by her younger brother, Harry (RYAN MALGARINI), and thinks that her mom, Tess (JAMIE LEE CURTIS), is a square and out of touch with her times.

Tess, on the other hand, is a harried psychologist and widow whose wedding to Ryan (MARK HARMON) is fast approaching. She's concerned not only with Anna's less than enthusiastic response to that, but also with her growing rebellious attitude.

That comes to a head in a Chinese restaurant over Anna wanting to play with her garage band in an important tryout that just so happens to fall on the night of the rehearsal dinner. An older Asian restaurant worker then brings them fortune cookies whose duplicate fortunes put a spell on both women.

The next morning, Anna wakes up Tess' body and vice-versa, much to the shock and dismay of both of them. Not wanting to let anyone know what's happened, the two try to pose as each other, with Anna (in Tess' body) heading off to work and dealing with the thought of marrying Ryan the next day, while Tess (in Anna's body) heads off to school where she meets Jake (CHAD MICHAEL MURRAY), the hunky young guy Anna likes.

With the band gig and the rehearsal dinner fast approaching, Anna and Tess try to fool everyone else into believing who they are, all while learning a thing or two about how the other actually lives.

WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT?
It's a good bet many pre-teen and teenage girls will want to see it.
WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: PG
For mild thematic elements and some language.
CAST AS ROLE MODELS:
  • LINDSAY LOHAN plays a typical teenager who thinks her mom is a square and too restrictive of her. She also doesn't support her mom marrying Ryan, but has a change of heart once she sees how her mom lives (while inhabiting her body and posing as her).
  • JAMIE LEE CURTIS plays her widowed psychologist mom who gets to see how her daughter lives when she ends up inhabiting her body and posing as her at school and with her friends.
  • MARK HARMON plays Tess' fiancé who isn't sure what to make of Tess and Anna's suddenly weird behavior.
  • RYAN MALGARINI plays Anna's younger brother who's a constant thorn in her side.
  • HAROLD GOULD plays Tess' father who's around for the wedding.
  • CHAD MICHAEL MURRAY plays the hunky young guy who's the object of Anna's attention, but finds himself falling for Tess (who's really Anna inside).
  • CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO

    HOW OTHERS RATED THIS MOVIE


    Curious if this title is entertaining, any good, and/or has any artistic merit?
    Then read OUR TAKE of this film.


    (Note: The "Our Take" review of this title examines the film's artistic merits and does not take into account any of the possibly objectionable material listed below).


    OUR WORD TO PARENTS:
    The following is a quick look at the content found in this comedy that's been rated PG. Profanity consists of a handful of expletives, while some colorful phrases and a few non-explicit, sexually related comments are made. Part of a man's bare butt is briefly seen.

    Various characters have varying degrees of bad attitudes, some imitative behavior is present, and some slapstick style material and brief hitting occurs. Thematic issues involve a prior death of a parent and the surviving parent remarrying, along with teen-parent issues and squabbles. Meanwhile, a bit of drinking also occurs.

    If you're still concerned about the film and its appropriateness for yourself or anyone else in your home who may be interested in seeing it, we suggest that you take a closer look at our detailed listings for more specific information regarding the film's content.


    ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE
  • We see bottles of wine as a backdrop on a TV set.
  • People have wine and champagne at a dinner where we see bottles of liquor behind the bar.
  • People have drinks in a club.
  • BLOOD/GORE
  • None.
  • DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE
  • Anna has a teenage-driven bad attitude toward her brother and mom, Ryan, and her teachers (even telling one, who's balding, that at least some other person she's talking about had hair).
  • Anna sarcastically comments on some clothes being okay if "you're selling Bibles."
  • Anna (in Tess' body) goes on a shopping spree with her mom's credit card (since she appears to be Tess).
  • A teacher turns out to be getting his revenge on Anna via her grades for Tess turning down his request years ago to attend the prom.
  • Anna's rival sets up Tess (in Anna's body) to make it look like Anna is cheating off her test.
  • Jake, who works at the school, allows Anna (really Tess) into the teacher's lounge so that she can complete her test (which was interrupted by a rival student setting her up). Tess/Anna then alters her rival's test as revenge.
  • Harry calls his grandfather, "You old fart."
  • FRIGHTENING SCENES
  • As the body switching spell sets in, Anna and Tess briefly experience a strong earthquake (but aren't hurt and no one else feels it). Later, there's a brief earthquake as Anna and Tess switch bodies again.
  • GUNS/WEAPONS
  • None.
  • IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR
  • Phrases: "Little harlot," "Shut up," "Bummer," "We're screwed," "Insane psycho freak," "Stop shrinking me" (as in psychologist "shrink"), "You clone freak," "I'm old. I'm like the crypt keeper," "What do you want, punk?" "Get a grip," "Could you chill for a sec?" "Fun sucker," "Whack job," "Freak," "Freaky," "Bite me," "(This) sucks," "Stuck in this suck-fest," "Loser," "Lame," "I suck," "Mr. Dude, you rock," "I respect the hell out of that," "Blows," "What the hell just happened?" and "You old fart."
  • Harry uses an air horn to try to blast Anna out of bed.
  • Harry flicks Anna's ear, prompting her to try to punch him in the backseat of their car.
  • Anna and other girls occasionally wear midriff-revealing tops.
  • We see that Anna has apparently wrapped underwear around Harry's head (for him being in her room). He then ends up blindly running face-first into a door.
  • One of Anna's band-mates has multi-colored hair.
  • We see Harry wearing one of Anna's bras (over his shirt) and hopping on her bed.
  • We see that Anna recently got a pierced navel.
  • After her rival and her friends pull Anna's outer shirt over her head (no nudity occurs), she accidentally falls over a bike to the ground.
  • Anna (in Tess' body) playfully flips up her heel from the side to kick Harry on the butt.
  • Harry dances on the dining room table.
  • JUMP SCENES
  • None.
  • MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE)
  • None.
  • MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE)
  • None.
  • PROFANITY
  • At least 3 hells, 8 uses of "Oh my God," 3 of "God" and 1 use each of "For God's sakes" and "Oh God" as exclamations.
  • SEX/NUDITY
  • Upon seeing Tess and Ryan kiss, a boy tells him, "Get a room."
  • After they magically switch bodies, Anna (really Tess) grabs her clothed rear (among other things) and states, "That's definitely not mine."
  • Tess (in Anna's body) tells Anna's friends that she doesn't believe in physical contact with the opposite sex.
  • While in Tess' body and seeing a patient, Anna tells the woman -- who's worried that her daughter and boyfriend "might be..." (fooling around) -- that the daughter would be "doing it" and not writing about it in her diary.
  • Tess shows a tiny bit of cleavage.
  • Anna tries to avoid kisses from Ryan while in Tess' body. This prompts Anna's grandpa to tell Ryan, "Easy stud, save it for the honeymoon."
  • A man partially lowers part of his pants to show where Tess (really Anna) "signed my butt." We then see the signature on his flesh, but can't tell what part of his body we're seeing (although it's presumably his butt).
  • Anna and Jake passionately kiss at a wedding.
  • SMOKING
  • None.
  • TENSE FAMILY SCENES
  • Tess and Anna don't see eye to eye and there's some comically tense family material between them. We also learn that Anna's father died three years ago and that she's not happy her mom is remarrying so soon.
  • TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT
  • How parents and children often don't realize the trials and tribulations that the other half faces.
  • Death of a parent and remarriage of the surviving one.
  • We see that Anna recently got a pierced navel.
  • VIOLENCE
  • Harry flicks Anna's ear, prompting her to try to punch him in the backseat of their car.
  • Tess inadvertently drives over spikes that flatten her tires and cause her airbag to deploy in her face (played for comedy).
  • A girl twice spikes a volleyball that hits Anna on the head. In turn, Anna purposefully serves the ball into her rival's head.
  • We see that Anna has apparently wrapped underwear around Harry's head (for him being in her room). He then ends up blindly running face-first into a door.
  • Hoping to break the spell, Tess and Anna run at and into each other, knocking each other to the floor.
  • After her rival and her friends pull Anna's outer shirt over her head (no nudity occurs), she accidentally falls over a bike to the ground.
  • Anna (really Tess) tackles Jake to stop him from singing (she knocks him down in a linebacker style of comedy).
  • Anna (as Tess) kisses Jake and then slaps him on the face, telling him to leave her mother alone.
  • Anna (as Tess) grabs Jake by the foot and apparently upends him, causing him to fall to the floor, (we don't see the impact).
  • A woman runs into and tackles Harry and his grandfather to prevent them from body switching (in a linebacker comedy style).



  • Reviewed July 21, 2003 / Posted August 6, 2003

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