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Thank god it's the original Friday! For everyone quite happy with the wildly popular 2003 remake, Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis are a hard act to follow. But this 1976 comedy, based on Mary Rogers's book, boasts a no-less-distinguished pairing of future Oscar winner Jodie Foster and the incomparable Barbara Harris, who got her start with Chicago's legendary Second City improvisational troupe. Comparisons between the two versions are moot. Both have their charms. The remake is longer on audience-pleasing comic set pieces, while the original is more faithful to the book (Rogers herself wrote the screenplay). It is also more deliberately paced, requiring more patience from viewers. They will be well rewarded. Foster and Harris have a field day as the 13-year-old and her mother, clueless about each other's lives and constantly bickering as a result. One fateful Friday the 13th, their wish to change places for one day magically comes true, leaving Ellen, in her daughter's body, to face the hassles of school, and young Annabel, similarly transformed, to cope with the never-ending demands of being a housewife. The slapstick aqua-show finale aside, this version rings truer than the remake, even if it feels a tad dated. One interesting difference is that in this version, it is a two-parent household, and John Astin (Gomez from The Addams Family) makes a fittingly flummoxed dad, double-taking at his skateboarding wife and a daughter who suddenly calls him by his first name. Both versions are also available in a two-DVD set that will really let you get your Freaky on. Donald Liebenson

All Movie Guide

Prolific television director Gary Nelson made the Walt Disney live-action comedy Freaky Friday, based on the novel by Mary Rodgers. Barbara Harris stars as suburban housewife Ellen Andrews, the wife of Bill (John Astin) and the mother of Annabel (Jodie Foster) and Ben (Sparky Marcus). Ellen just can't understand what's going on with teenaged Annabel, who hangs around the house making snappy remarks, eating ice cream for breakfast, and calling her brother Apeface. They each make a separate wish to be in the other's place, and they get their wish on Friday 13th. Ellen has to go through the day as a kid, playing on the field hockey team and dealing with typing class. Annabel has to deal with grown-up problems like getting appliances fixed and preparing a banquet. The whole silly story ends with a wacky car-chase/water skiing/hang-gliding conclusion in keeping with other Disney movies of the day. Freaky Friday was remade twice with the same title, and spawned a whole subgenre of body-switching movies in the 1980s. Andrea LeVasseur

Product Details

• UPC: 786936222654
• Source: WALT DISNEY VIDEO
• Region Code: 1
• Time: 1:38:00
• Sales Rank: 13,872

This DVD is also available as part of a box set:

• Freaky Friday

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