I'm not sure why, but when 'Freaky Friday' first came out (or was it a re-release) I saw the film instead of going to a birthday party where bowling was the fun activity of choice. Miles away in California, my future friend Marshall was aching to see the film, only to be dragged to a free presentation of 'The Donna Shore Show', with his parents. This scared him deeply. I helped to heal this scar by letting him finally watch the film he avoided for so many years because of Donna Shore. After he finally he got to watch just a little of it, he concluded that he really didn't miss all that much.
Is my friend right? I want to point out a few of the flaws of the film and compare them to the 2003 remake as best as I can remember it. There was also a 1995 remake with Shelly Long I never saw and will leave alone as it is not available on DVD. First there is the way in which the Freaky Friday switch happens. In the remake, there is some magic charm from some fortune teller that causes mother and daughter to switch places. In the original it happens because the script says it does. Fantasy Phenomenon does not always need an explanation especially when the film is more or less a parable, but the film makes more sense in the remake.The second thing is there is no real interaction on screen between the mother and the daughter. You would think if something weird happened like switching bodies with someone you would want to talk about it with other person, but this never happens. It does happen in the remake which is very logical and believable. I always have a hard time accepting the actors in a body switching movie. I usually can't buy a adult playing a kid and vice versa. 13 going on 30 seemed to be the most successful attempt I have seen at it. I also usually feel this way when men try to discuses themselves as women. As funny as it is, it is still Dustin Hoffman and Robin Williams in drag and I can tell. Charlie Chaplin actually did make a very convincing woman.
This brings me to the last major flaw which is the believability of some of the action. I find it hard to believe that a 13 year old wouldn't know how to run a washer and that a grown women wouldn't' know how to run an electric typewriter especially when other adults know how to do the same thing. The lack of believability usually kills a film but not this one. There is a logical explanation for every action in the film. Every thing that happens in the film happens simply for yucks. And by some stroke of Disney magic it works.
Towards the end of the film, one character remarks, "Your whole family is a bunch of comedians." That seems to ring through in this film. The wacky silliness works much the same way a Marx Bros. film works. The crazy things that happen are so odd, unusual, and well timed that their funny. A funny scene has the daughter at home in the mom's body thinking she will just watch TV and eat snacks, only to have every Tom, Dick, and Harriot come to the house for some reason or other. Rugs, Groceries, House Cleaning est. The ending chase scene would make Buster Keaton proud. It's also neat to see how 70's everything is.
If you want even a half way decent thinking comic fantasy, this is not your film. There are plenty of other films with the same fantasy element that covers that category. If you want a nice family friendly no brainer wacky comedy that will entertain the kids this is your film. It's worth a place in the family library right along side your Marx Bros. comedies. In reality this does not compare to the genius of their work, but it's fun to watch and so are the Marx's and you should introduce your kids to them at some point like my Dad did to me.
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