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Encyclopedia of Fantasy (1997)
Freaky Friday

Tagged: Film.

US movie (1976). Disney. Pr Ron Miller. Dir Gary Nelson. Spfx Art Cruickshank, Danny Lee, Eustace Lycett. Screenplay Mary Rodgers (1931-2014). Based on Freaky Friday (1972) by Rodgers. Starring John Astin (Bill Andrews), Jodie Foster (Annabel Andrews), Barbara Harris (Ellen Andrews), Sparky Marcus (Ben Andrews), Brooke Mills (Lucille Gibbons). 95 mins. Colour.

It is Friday 13. 13-year-old Annabel and her mother Ellen simultaneously make the mock-Wish that they could each spend just one day enjoying the lifestyle of the other. Their personalities swap; Ellen proceeds to make a mess of a schoolgirl's day, while Annabel is a disastrous housewife – although suddenly a dream mother to Annabel's younger brother Ben. When finally the two wish simultaneously to have their own bodies back, the wish is granted but each is dumped into a position hazardous for them but, in effect, the process has been a Healing. Then father Bill and young Ben simultaneously wish they could be each other ...

Harris is completely convincing and very funny, without being patronizing, as the 13-year-old in an adult body; and Foster's complementary performance is only marginally less adept. Freaky Friday is among the best and funniest Identity-Exchange movies.

In 1994 Disney remade Freaky Friday as a tvm. [JG]



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