Freaky Friday

FREAKY FRIDAY was one of several vehicles Disney crafted for future star Jodie Foster, when the precocious teen actress was under that company's tutelage. Her adult demeanor serves her well, playing a thirteen year old inhabited by her mother's personality. The real joy in this slapsticky farce is Barbara Harris, whose brand of humor is gainfully employed as the irrepressible Annabelle, stuck in her mother's body. This and FAMILY PLOT are probably Harris' most readily available films. Too bad Harris didn't make more.

With their vibrant turns, Harris and Foster make the movie. The idea of body reversals may not be a new one but it's never been done better than here. Mom (Harris) snipes at daughter (Foster) who still does her own thing anyway. So what would each do if they had role reversals for a day. What would Mom do if she were suddenly in daughter's body and vice-versa. So it's a 30-year old in a teenager's body and a teenager in a wife-mother's body. The concept's loaded with funny potential without much trying. Mom learns what it's like to be in school again, especially when grappling with a new-fangled typewriter, while daughter cooks for Dad's (Astin) big business buffet, with something called an "oven".

The material, of course, makes the laughs easy to come by. Still, the two leads shine in their respective roles. Some of the material can get touchy as when daughter uses Mom's mature figure to tempt neighbor boy. Nonetheless, it's humorously finessed. Hard to believe Foster really is only 13 given her abilities. Good to see such movie vets as Marie Windsor, Patsy Kelly, and Iris Adrian picking up paydays. I had to check the cast list twice to make sure it really was noir vamp Windsor playing a teacher, of all things. Anyway, except for the overdone madcap of the finale, the movie's a delight, even for non-Disney viewers like myself.

If you changed personalities with your kid--actually found yourself in his or her body--would you spend the rest of the day in school? If you found yourself in your mother's body, would you bother cooking a meal for your husband's corporate buffet? Disney's "Freaky Friday", adapted by Mary Rodgers from her popular young adult novel, doesn't quite work; there's no awe in the circumstance involved--just lessons to be learned. Mom Barbara Harris earns points for daughter Jodie Foster at school, while Foster (in Harris' body) gets closer to the guy next door. Both leads are very good however, and Harris is wonderful calling her husband "Daddy" (with a quick switch to "Bill, Dear") and later playing a hot game of softball with a group of boys (while chewing bubblegum AND smoking a cigarette). Foster has some funny outbursts but generally has less to work with (she screws up a typing class, a photography class, band practice and field hockey, but does great in social studies). The movie is far too long, with inertia setting in right about the time Harris is called to the principal's office to discuss her daughter's schoolwork. The slapstick finale, a painful "Love Bug" flashback, is pure juvenalia (complete with a magic twist that makes no sense--not even in this movie's universe), yet the picture was a blockbuster anyway. **1/2 from ****

This is definitely one of the very best of Disney's many comedies. Perhaps it's the great writing from Mary Rodgers, author of the book, or the spectacular acting from the entire cast, especially a young Jodie Foster and Barbara Harris.

The film is incredibly funny, without being stupid, and it feels very real and authentic, an element that is gone from almost every other Disney film of the era. Although it includes the typical Disney chase scene, the rest of Disney's usual cliches are dropped so that the focus is on the characters and the believable and hilarious situations that they get into.

A definite 10/10! Go rent it! Be sure that you get the 1977 version, though, not the 1995 remake.

Never particularly loved this movie but it is lifted above the usual Disney fare by Jodie Foster, who was just totally incredible in this. You watch her and she nails the part - her performances in her movies are always better than great but to have been this good as a kid is kinda spooky, she delivers her lines so well. She is just about one of the finest actresses working in movies today along with Meryl Streep. It is so rare for a child to be as mature in performance as Jodie was. I guess the nearest child star in terms of performance is Haley Joel Osment. I have seen the remake with LL and JC but they just do not make such a good job of the parts as Jodie and Barbara (who seems to have disappeared from the movie scene-curse of the older actress).