Freakier Friday is a film chock-full of both callbacks to the original film and references to wider elements of pop culture. By the time of Freakier Friday’s ending, the film solidifies itself as a nostalgia-driven, energetic, and fun ride. That nostalgia in question is prevalent, with Freakier Friday’s soundtrack including some original songs from its 2003 predecessors.
What further emboldens the nostalgic fun of the film, other than the music, is the returning cast from Freaky Friday. It is a joy to see Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan back in these roles, only this time with new costars and double the body-swapping mayhem.
As somewhat of a legacy sequel to the original movie, given that Freaky Friday was released in 2003, the film is wise enough to reference elements of the first film. Several of these callbacks are found throughout Freakier Friday, as are some pointed references to the wider filmography of Lindsay Lohan.
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“Make Good Choices!”
The first reference to Freaky Friday found in Freakier Friday is during the film’s opening school run. Anna and Tess drop the former’s daughter, Harper, off at school. As Harper gets out of the car, Anna tells her to “Make good choices!” This is the same thing Tess says to Anna when dropping her off at school in the opening of 2003’s Freaky Friday.
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Anna & Eric’s “Mean Girls” Wedding Day
As with the first movie, the focus of Freakier Friday is a wedding, this time between Anna and Manny Jacinto’s Eric. When scrolling through her phone calendar at the beginning of the movie, the wedding is scheduled for October 3rd. This is a reference, albeit an unintentional one, as revealed to Collider’s Perri Nemiroff, to Mean Girls Day.
In Lohan’s Mean Girls, released a year after Freaky Friday, her character, Cady, recalls how, on October 3rd, a boy she has a crush on asked her what day it was. The film bluntly cuts to Cady replying, “It’s October 3rd,” meaning that date has forever been known as Mean Girls Day since then.
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Rolling Over In Bed During The Body Swap
In both Freaky Friday and Freakier Friday, the characters have similar physical reactions to the body-swapping mayhem. Both movies show the characters turning over in bed, signifying that they have undergone the swap before waking up in their family members’ bodies.
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The Reaction To Body Swapping
Image via Disney Studios
The initial body swap sequence of Freakier Friday takes a lot of inspiration from the same scene in Freaky Friday. The sequel has several scenes involving the characters looking at their new bodies in the mirror, making humorous remarks about how old they now are, how dehydrated their skin feels, or how knotty their hair is.
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Running Into Each Other Post-Body Swap
One of the funnier gags in Freakier Friday is taken directly from the first movie. In the latter, when Anna and Tess first swap, they try to run into each other and jolt their souls back into the correct bodies.
In Freakier Friday, Anna and Tess, now in Harper and Lily’s bodies, strategize about the days ahead, given that they have been in this position before. Harper and Lily, however, are shown talking quietly in the background of the shot before smashing into each other. The girls had the same idea as their older counterparts did 20 years ago, marking a hilarious callback to Freaky Friday.
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The Wedding Time Bomb
Another callback to Freaky Friday found in Freakier Friday is the overall crux of the movie’s plot. In the sequel, Anna, Tess, Harper, and Lily are rushing to switch back to their original bodies before Anna’s wedding to Eric. In the first movie, Anna and Tess wished to switch back before the latter’s wedding to Ryan.
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Tess & Anna’s Makeover
While in Tess’ body in Freaky Friday, Anna uses her credit cards to buy an entirely new wardrobe and get a slick new haircut. This also happens in Freakier Friday, this time with Harper and Lily undergoing several makeovers as Anna and Tess, respectively. In the sequel, this is even bigger thanks to several photoshoots.
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The Parent Trap Cameo
Interestingly, one of these aforementioned photoshoots contains a cameo from one of Lindsay Lohan’s first movies, The Parent Trap. This cameo comes in the form of Elaine Hendrix, who appeared in The Parent Trap as evil would-be stepmother Meredith Blake. In Freakier Friday, Hendrix portrays a photographer.
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Kissing Your Mom’s Boyfriend?!
One of the best running gags throughout Freaky Friday was Anna’s attempts, while in Tess’ body, not to kiss Ryan. In Freakier Friday, the same happens, only this time with Harper, in Anna’s body, attempting not to kiss Eric.
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Detention & Mr. Bates
Several times in Freaky Friday, Anna is sent to detention by her teachers. One of these teachers is Mr. Elton Bates, a man who has an unfair vendetta against Anna, as Tess once rejected him as a prom date. In Freakier Friday, Anna and Tess (as Harper and Lily) are sent to detention, with the punishment helmed by none other than Elton Bates.
