Freaky Friday

Director: Mark Waters

Starring: Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan

Dr Tess Coleman, and her daughter could never agree on anything. They claimed that each was trying to destroy the other’s life. As her mum was busy with her engagement plans as she was planning to remarry, Anna was just giving her the cold shoulder for she disapproved of the wedding.

The bomb finally dropped when Anna tried asking her mother to let her go to the Wango Tango instead of her rehearsal dinner on the same day as it was a prestigious competition in which her band, Pinkslip, did stand a good chance of winning.

Being torn between letting her friends down and upsetting her mum, who had already booked her way in advance, she decided to ask to for permission to forgo the dinner. Dr. Coleman was livid while they were having this argument in a Chinese Restaurant, and at the very boiling point of the dispute, they were presented with a pair of fortune cookies, which caused a major twist of fate once they were cracked.

All hell would break loose as the pair awoke the following day. Tess was entrapped within Anna’s body and vice versa. How could this happen? After some desperate shrieking and valiant yells, they had to face reality and would be stuck like this…for some time. But Murphy’s Law came into play. It would be an important day in both of their lives and circumstance just proved to be nothing but a pain. It was morning and by evening, Tess was to be at her rehearsal dinner while Anna had planned to be at the Wango Tango. Even within Anna’s body, Tess was clueless about “rocking hard” and Anna balked at the thought of having to kiss her mother’s fiancé, Ryan, later during the rehearsal dinner.

It was definitely hilarious to watch how a grown woman goes to school and gets innocently put in detention, while Anna, in her mother’s body, gets the chance to drive, spend lots of money, and see her mother’s delusional patients…not that she was enjoying it…

Only very much later during the proceedings of the important dinner did they realize how hard it was to be each other and as they could finally see through each other’s eyes, they were magically switched back and lived happily ever after in the typical Disney fashion. As such deeper understanding and a stronger bond between mother and daughter was fostered.

Between the riots of laughter that this movie conjures up, there is definitely an important underlying meaning. It is that of mutual understanding. Sometimes, I can’t understand why I’m giving my mom such a hard time and presumptuously think that her life is perfect but not mine. But in retrospect, we both have our own problems and we must try to reach somewhat of a mutual respect, tolerance and acceptance so as to minimize conflict. Then we would live happily ever after too!