We know it’s Monday, but we’re so wrapped up in Freakier Friday’s premiere that we’re willing to flub the calendar with a round-up of reviews for the much-anticipated sequel.
ICYMI, Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis reunited on screens last week with the release of Freakier Friday, a follow-up to the 2003 original that adds a new generation to the body-swapping antics and makes a heartthrob out of Manny Jacinto — which fans of The Good Place will know was always within his reach.
Now, days out from the debut, critics, audiences and the box office have spoken.
On the lattermost front, Freakier Friday grossed $45 million USD ($69 million AUD) in its opening weekend at the global box office, on a budget of $45 million before marketing. That’s perhaps not quite the level of dosh Disney was hoping for, but box office and critics scores are two very different things.
Freakier Friday landed an impressive 73 per cent critics score on Rotten Tomatoes and a 93 per cent rating among fans. Over on CinemaScore, the sequel nabbed an A, which is coincidentally the grade that eluded me when I was rewatching the OG instead of studying back in the day.
While that paints an overall positive picture of the movie — suggesting we haven’t quite tired of Hollywood revamping its decades-old classics — not everyone was so taken with Freakier Friday. Here’s an overview of the reviews for the sequel, from glowing to downright freaky.
Jamie Lee Curtis has no time for Time
Let’s start with the bad, shall we? Time Magazine had absolutely zero time for Freakier Friday, sharing a scathing review that described it as “humiliating for everyone involved”. Critic Stephanie Zacharek panned the “ugly costumes”, and said the sequel was created for the “sole purpose” of “cashing in” on the OG.
The review was so searing that it caught the attention of Curtis herself, who replied to it on Instagram and said it was a “TAD HARSH”.
“SOME people LOVE it. Me being one,” Curtis added.
Elsewhere, the ABC was lukewarm on the sequel, saying it was “fine” and was “never going to hit the same as its beloved predecessor”. To be fair, it couldn’t reach the heights of the OG even if Martin Scorsese himself was in the director’s chair. The Sydney Morning Herald, meanwhile, said Freakier Friday “dilutes the formula” of the original with a middling 2.5/5 star-review.
It ain’t all bad
But not everyone was feeling like a Roger Ebert party pooper, with Freakier Friday faring quite well with critics at The Los Angeles Times, Rolling Stone and The New York Times. Those reviewers were particularly fond of the chemistry between Curtis and Lohan, because they’re human and have eyes and a heart.
For what it’s worth, this writer has only positive things to say about the sequel (think bright colours, bucketloads of nostalgia and a Chappell Roan soundtrack), not least because he’s still dizzied by the star-power after catching up with Lohan and Curtis IRL. Forgive the third-person reference, but for a film about body-swapping, it feels fitting.
“It’s just special,” Curtis told PEDESTRIAN.TV of her reunion with Lohan. “She’s just really special.” Hey, if it’s special enough for Curtis, it’s special for us too. Check out the full interview below!
Lead images: Instagram
The post Jamie Lee Curtis Slams A Scathing Freakier Friday Review As Critics Weigh In appeared first on PEDESTRIAN.TV .
