CineBad!!!

It’s hard to make fun of Jodie Foster, even when she’s playing a 35 year old housewife trapped in the body of a thirteen year old. She’s just too good! That having been said, Freaky Friday is another gem of cheesy brilliance from the think tank that gave us The Watcher in the Woods and Escape to Witch Mountain.

Annabel Andrews and her mom, the aptly named Mrs. Andrews (that’s how she’s listed in the credits– I think her name was Ellen) start off as seemingly innocuous members of a typically homogenous white suburban family. After graphically illustrating how tough it is to be a kid, how tough it is to be a mom, etc. Annabel and Mrs. Andrews find themselves wishing they could “be you for a day–” simultaneously. Their wish is granted when the audience starts seeing double and ghost images of the two merge on the screen.

Now “Annabel” (who is really her mom) and “Mrs. Andrews” get to have all sorts of fun impersonating each other. Mrs. Andrews discovers the horrors of jr. high (by becoming a geek who’s no good at field hockey but knows all about the Korean conflict) while Annabel burns dinner, breaks the washing machine, wrecks the car, and botches other housewifely tasks. Annabel (as her mother) also interacts with the movie’s token love interest, Boris, the painfully ectomorphic neighbor boy.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone smoke cigarettes in a Disney flick before. That was sort of thrilling. Disney also dabbles in a little feminist sentiment as Annabel and Mrs. Andrews come to the conclusion that Mr. Andrews is an overbearing chauvinist pig who makes them sing and dance in the interests of his big advertising account. But just when you’re all geared up for divorce, custody arrangements, child support payments, and the silent threat of alcoholism– everybody gets happy again.

Freaky Friday is probably a little too self-consciously wacky to really pick on, but it’s great if you (like me) read the book when you were thirteen. It’s also great fun to watch Disney recycle the same seven or eight tired 70’s pseudo-stars in yet another film. This film also stars the remarkable Sparky Marcus as Annabel’s little brother, Ape Face. The fantastic Sparky Marcus also starred in Sigmund and the Sea Monsters and had a cameo on the Bob Newhart Show. Actually, he’s not really that remarkable, but I think he has a killer name.