X
- 1977
- G
- Buena Vista Distribution Company
- 1 h 38 m
- 1977
- G
- Buena Vista Distribution Company
- 1 h 38 m
Summary A mother (Barbara Harris) and daughter (Jodie Foster) find their personalities switched and have to live each other's lives on one strange Friday.
Directed By: Gary Nelson
Written By: Mary Rodgers
- 1977
- G
- Buena Vista Distribution Company
- 1 h 38 m
- 1977
- G
- Buena Vista Distribution Company
- 1 h 38 m
Freaky Friday
51
6.8
Summary A mother (Barbara Harris) and daughter (Jodie Foster) find their personalities switched and have to live each other's lives on one strange Friday.
Directed By: Gary Nelson
Written By: Mary Rodgers
Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 9 Critic Reviews
51
44% Positive
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
56% Mixed
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 9 Critic Reviews
51
44% Positive
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
56% Mixed
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Mary Rodgers's screenplay, based on her novel, supplies enough faintly Freudian undertones to pique a grownup's interest even further. Try to imagine how Annabel Andrews, a 13-year-old tomboy, must feel when she finds herself with a mature figure and a husband she suddenly starts calling "Daddy," and you begin to get the idea. [28 Feb 1977, p.72]
The film is filled with sight gags and features a wonderful performance by Harris.
The problems resulting from the switch of identities are fairly predictable, but fun: This is one of the better recent Disney productions.
This being a Disney comedy, nothing too drastic happens; and attendant adults can rest assured that, because Dad is so dithering and ineffectual, awkward questions about potentially incestuous relations, sadly, do not arise. Good performances struggle gamely to overcome the increasingly predictable plot.
Freaky Friday is certainly one of the most offbeat films Walt Disney Productions has ever made, but it isn't one of the best. A promising concept - quarreling mother and teenage daughter switch personalities for a day - has been bungled by a talky, repetitive screenplay and overbroad direction. Barbara Harris and Jodie Foster salvage some scenes through sheer behavioral charm.
Suffers from sluggish exposition mediocre direction and a one-closeup-after-another method of composition advertising the film's eventual retirement to the Disney TV series, but it probably salvages things with juvenile audiences by finishing fast. [5 Feb 1977, p.C5]
The situation—a mother and daughter switch personalities for a day—is rife with possibilities, but since this 1977 comedy is a Disney film, said possibilities are scrupulously squandered...Not so bad as Disney goes, but it's better left to the kiddies and other forgiving types.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 11 User Ratings
6.8
55% Positive
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
36% Mixed
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
9% Negative
1 Rating
1 Rating
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 11 User Ratings
6.8
55% Positive
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
36% Mixed
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
9% Negative
1 Rating
1 Rating
There are no user reviews yet. Be the first to add a review.
Production Company
Walt Disney Productions
Release Date Jan 21, 1977
Duration 1 h 38 m
Rating G
Tagline Annabel and her Mother are not quite themselves today- in fact, they're each other! [UK]
Awards
Golden Globes, USA
• 3 Nominations
