Freaky Friday

Name: Freaky Friday
Genre: Fantasy, Comedy, Family
Released: January 21, 1977
Duration: 95 min
Rating: 51
Cast: Alan Oppenheimer, Barbara Harris, Dick Van Patten, Jodie Foster, John Astin

1977

METASCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 9 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 11 Ratings

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6.8

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6.8	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 11 Ratings

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Movie Details & Credits

Buena Vista Distribution Company | Release Date: January 21, 1977 | G

Starring: Alan Oppenheimer, Barbara Harris, Dick Van Patten, Jodie Foster, John Astin, Kaye Ballard, Patsy Kelly, Ruth Buzzi, Sorrell Booke, Vicki Schreck

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.

Director: Gary Nelson

Genre(s): Fantasy, Comedy, Family

Rating: G

Runtime: 95 min

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Critic Reviews

Janet Maslin

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]

TV Guide Magazine Staff (Not Credited)

The film is filled with sight gags and features a wonderful performance by Harris. Read full review

Roger Ebert

The problems resulting from the switch of identities are fairly predictable, but fun: This is one of the better recent Disney productions. Read full review

Time Out London Staff (Not Credited)

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. Read full review

Richard Eder

Toward the end there are some amusing car-chase scenes. Elsewhere the humor is clotted by the feeling that the jokes are chasing the reactions, instead of the other way around. Read full review

Staff (Not Credited)

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. Read full review

Gary Arnold

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]

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User Reviews

LamontRaymond

Aug 18, 2017

This one was a classic of my childhood. In fact, we named our dog Sparky after the actor Sparky Marcus in this film. Jodie Foster is great - and no, don't do what the other critics have done and read in some subtle Freudian sexuality into this film. It's just good stuff.

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Broyax

May 6, 2020

Cette petite comédie à l'humour souvent balourd est assurément un tantinet niaise (mais ç'aurait pu être pire, cela dit) et a inspiré un remake en 2003 avec une brillante Jamie Lee Curtis dans le rôle de la maman... mais ici, c'est le rôle de la fille qui interpelle puisque une jeune star yCette petite comédie à l'humour souvent balourd est assurément un tantinet niaise (mais ç'aurait pu être pire, cela dit) et a inspiré un remake en 2003 avec une brillante Jamie Lee Curtis dans le rôle de la maman... mais ici, c'est le rôle de la fille qui interpelle puisque une jeune star y fait ses débuts et se débrouille déjà fort bien : la petite Jodie ! petite mais déjà une grande ado en fait... et qui se double elle-même dans la VF, excusez du peu...!

Le film démarre assez bien et s'avère plutôt comique durant son premier tiers (les voix off respectives sont une bonne idée) puis fatigue nettement par la suite, pour se déliter dangereusement et finir dans la bouffonnerie totale... De toute façon, passé la première heure, l'ennui et la répétition commencent à s'installer sévèrement, hélas... ce qui rend le film de 2003 bien plus intéressant, finalement.

Bref, une excellente idée à la base mais pas traitée comme elle le mérite... A noter qu'un troisième film a été réalisé en 2018 il me semble et rien qu'à en voir un extrait, il s'agit d'une pure abomination débilos du vivre_enemble progressiste doublée (double peine) d'une abominable... comédie musicale !… Expand

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