43 - Freaky Friday (1976)

Connection To BODY SLAM - John Astin

I can't believe I've never got around to watching the original Freaky Friday before, I really enjoy the body swap movies I've seen an whole bunch of them from Like Father Like Son, Vice Versa or 18 Again, to the 2 Freaky Friday remakes - the TV one from 1995 with Shelley Long and Gaby Hoffmann and the 2003 one with Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan (who contrary to popular belief is a talented actress, it's just her life is messed up at the moment), so yeah seeing the original Freaky Friday as been a long-time coming.

Freaky Friday if you don't know the plot as the tomboyish daughter (Foster) swapping bodies with her housewife mother (Barbara Harris) on a Friday (duh), where they both learn each other's lives are not quite so easy.

Freaky Friday is likable 70's family Disney fare, like all the better body swap movies (including in some ways something like Face/Off) both the performers excel in either role, where they are being themselves or pretending to be each other trapped in each others bodies. Like Bugsy Malone, Foster even around other child performers showed she was in a class of her own even in family films but none of the young performers are bad in the movie to be fair, there's also some fun adult support from John Astin as the dad.

I think the 2003 version got the dynamic better between the two leads, something about their relationship in that one just rang... truer, but I think the relationship with the brother is a bit better done here and also in this one you can't help thinking there should have been an early scene where they interacted with each other in each others bodies but hey it's a kids film at the end of the day.

Overall, a fun movie, I did enjoy it all the way through thanks to a storyline I liked and two great performances by the leads.