Freakier Friday Will Heal Me

If you’ve been clutching your flip phone and whisper-singing “I Want It That Way” into a hairbrush, we’ve got good news: millennial nostalgia has officially peaked and we’re loving every chaotic, body-swapping minute of it.

Not only are the Backstreet Boys back together at their Las Vegas Sphere residency, but Lindsay Lohan, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Chad Michael Murray are back in our lives thanks to Freakier Friday, the long-awaited sequel to the 2003 teen classic. Yes, it’s been 22 years. Yes, that means you are, in fact, old. But don’t worry, so are they.

While it seems like everything these days is just reboots, remakes, and book adaptations, this and Princess Diaries 3 are trains I'm buying tickets to. The update lives up to its "freakier" title as we see not one, but two switcheroos in this much needed film.

So what’s changed since the iconic fortune-cookie fiasco that first swapped high schooler Anna (Lohan) with her stressed-out mom Tess (Curtis)? EVERYTHING.

Anna’s now a mom herself to 15-year-old Harper (Julia Butters), Tess is a podcasting grandma, and Jake is not the fiancé. That honor goes to London dreamboat Eric Reyes (played by Manny Jacinto, a.k.a. Jason Mendoza from The Good Place), single dad to Harper’s school nemesis Lily (Sophia Hammons).

But fear not! Just when you thought this family couldn’t get any more dysfunctional, a new fortune teller (Vanessa Bayer, of course) gets everyone mixing and matching again. Harper and Anna swap bodies, as do Tess and Lily, just days before Anna’s wedding. Peak chaos, peak comedy.

To nail the double switch, the actors went method millennial. Butters and Lohan wrote each other character letters. Curtis and Hammons had movement coaching sessions and stalked each other’s habits. (Spoiler: Sophia really likes playing with her hair.)

Even fashion gets the freaky treatment. Curtis, now in Lily’s body, is decked out in bold, Gen Z-inspired fits that scream, “I found this at a vintage store and still paid $110.”

So Why Now?

According to Curtis, this sequel needed to “cook.” Literally. “There was no way we could have done this until Lindsay was old enough to be the mom of a teenager,” she said. Then she did what any legend would do: called Disney CEO Bob Iger and made it happen.

Lohan, now a mom IRL, joked: “Am I going to be swapping with a baby?” (Plot twist: we would absolutely watch that.)

Whether you’re watching it for the updated body-swap gags, the emotionally evolved Jake, or just because you’ve got a Freaky Friday-shaped hole in your millennial heart, this sequel is everything you could ever want and more. It’s heartfelt. It’s hilarious. It’s freaky in the best way.

And most importantly, it’s proof that growing up doesn’t mean growing out of the movies we love.

Catch Freakier Friday in theaters August 8, and don’t forget: always be careful what you wish for.