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Freaky
Friday (1976)
  
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Directed
by:
Gary Nelson |
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COUNTRY
USA |
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GENRE
Comedy |
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NORWEGIAN TITLE
Å,
for en fredag |
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RUNNING
TIME
97 minutes |
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Produced
by:
Ron Miller |
Written by
(based on her own novel):
Mary Rodgers |
Review
For anyone able to suspend both belief,
logic, and the 21st century, this kooky 1976 Disney production
starring an absolutely inspired Barbara Harris and the talented
teenager Jodie Foster may still elicit some chuckles and nods of
recognition. The concept is that a 30-something mother and her teen
daughter magically swap bodies after having voiced their separate
disillusionment with each other and their respective lives. No doubt
a fun idea. But the picture has one fundamental flaw: The filmmakers
are mostly preoccupied with the practicalities of the switch – the
skills and chores of the other which the two aren’t able to perform
satisfactorily. This is an underwhelming focus, because most of
these practical skills are not rooted in age or maturity at all, but
simply in training. So we get more value for money when occasionally
the focus is shifted towards the mother and daughter’s inner
workings; the principle difference between being a teenager versus
being a middle-aged married woman. Harris is wonderful at expressing
the attitudes and postures of a teen. And when the story dallies
with her infatuation with the next-door teenage boy (Mark McClure),
the film allows itself to become risqué in a manner which would
arguably have been vetoed in a similar film today. The real fun – at
least from an absurdist’s point of view – comes in the film’s wildly
over-the-top final minutes. Freaky Friday is a strange bird,
indeed, and worth a watch is for no other reason than that.
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