Freaky Friday

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Waaaaay too many versions of this story are crammed into this page. Each version, starting with the novel, needs to go into its own page, and this should be turned into a disambiguation page pointing to them and the trope.

"I wish I could switch places with her for just one day..."

—Annabel and Ellen, 1976 version

A journey soon begins, its prize reflected in the others' eyes. When what you see is what you lack, then selfless love will change you back.

—The magic cookie's fortune, 2003 version

Freaky Friday, based on a novel by Mary Rodgers, is a Disney movie starring Jodie Foster as a teenage girl, Annabel, who does not get along with her mother, Ellen, to say the least. One Friday the 13th (hence the title), they wish to switch places for one day, causing them to magically trade bodies. Hilarity Ensues, including the now-young mother lusting after her daughter's boyfriend. It eventually transpires that they had subconsciously switched bodies in order to learn An Aesop about the value of family and friendship.

There was also a sequel and two remakes, each less similar to the book than the last. The more famous of the remakes starred Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis, with a slightly different plot. The daughter and mother in that version are an aspiring guitarist named "Anna" and a widowed psychologist named "Tess," respectively, and they switch bodies after a Chinese restaurant owner's mother hands them some magic fortune cookies. Also has Mark Harmon in it, as Tess' fiance, Ryan.

Freaky Friday is the Trope Namer for:
Tropes used in Freaky Friday include:


All Films

  • An Aesop: Duh!
  • Disneyfication: With each version, the story gets further and further from the original novel, starting right from the first film, which threw out one of the book's most interesting details -- that the swap was something the mother deliberately did (through means that remained a mystery at the end of the book) to teach her daughter a lesson.
  • Freaky Friday Flip: Trope Namer.
  • Growing Up Sucks: Annabelle and Anna initially assume that adulthood has way fewer problems than high school. Each of them learns otherwise after the respective switch.
  • Split Screen: As the mother and daughter activate the body-switching spell from two different places.
    • The 2003 version tries to justify the split: Anna reads her fortune from inside a bathroom, while Tess reads hers from outside the door. The wall dividing the rooms also divides the screen.

Freaky Friday (1976 film)

  • Adaptation Expansion: The novel told in first person the time Annabel spent in her mother's body; the movie also spends time showing experiences Ellen had in her daughter's body.
  • Adorkable: Boris, Annabelle's next-door neighbor and love interest.
  • Animated Credits Opening
  • Be Careful What You Wish For
  • Brilliant but Lazy: Annabelle discovers she herself is this when meeting some of her teachers while in Ellen's body.
  • Cassandra Truth: No one believes that Annabel and Ellen literally aren't themselves today. (It's worth noting that in the 2003 version, neither the daughter nor the mother tells anyone else that they've switched bodies.)
  • Here We Go Again: The film ends with Annabel's brother and father simultaneously wishing to switch places.
    • Mary Rodgers later wrote about them switching bodies in Summer Switch, which would later be adapted as an ABC Afterschool Special, starring none of this movie's cast members.
  • Makeover Montage: Ellen, in Annabel's body, gets Annabel's braces removed, then gets a haircut and some new dresses, so Annabel could look less like a tomboy.
  • Refuge in Audacity: After Annabel and Ellen switch their bodies back, they also switch locations, so viewers would be treated to Jodie Foster leading policemen through an over-the-top Chase Scene and Barbara Harris waterskiing through an obstacle course.


Freaky Friday (1995 film)

  • Free the Frogs: While in her daughter's body, the mother made a sixties-ish revolutionary speech against frog dissection.
  • Make a Wish: Annabel and Ellen switch places in this version after putting on magic necklaces and speculating how nicer the other girl's life must be.

Freaky Friday (2003 film)

  • All Girls Want Bad Boys: Tess' assumption when she learns Anna has a crush on Jake, an older student she knows nothing about other than the fact he often visits her in detention and rides a motorcycle. However, Tess later learns that Jake's not really a bad boy; he works two jobs and helped her finish a test she couldn't complete after getting detention.
  • Bald of Evil: Anna's English teacher, Mr. Bates.
  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Anna's childhood friend, Stacy Hinkhouse, who acts pleasant and nice to Tess but is horrible to Anna.
  • Bratty Half-Pint: Anna's little brother and his friends.
  • Captain Obvious: Anna is a less than skilled psychologist.

Patient: So I read your book, and it made me feel really depressed.
Anna: And how do you feel about that?
Patient: ...Depressed.

  • Cassandra Truth: At first, Tess doesn't believe that Anna's teacher and former childhood friend has it in for her (Anna) - until she finds out for herself, while in Anna's body.
  • The Cast Showoff: It's easy to assume that Annabel/Anna changed from a girl who plays sports to a girl who plays rock music just so Lindsay Lohan could perform two new songs (one at an audition at the House of Blues, and one during Tess' and Ryan's wedding reception).
  • Cloudcuckoolander: Anna meets some while dealing with her mother's patients. Of special note are a paranoid man and an unintelligible woman.
  • The Cobbler's Children Have No Shoes: Tess is a psychiatrist to mothers with teenage daughters but doesn't appear to understand Anna at all.
  • Completely Different Title: The Chinese name of the film translates to Hot Mom, Hot Daughter, which is quite appropriate really.
  • Cool and Unusual Punishment: After Tess learns that Anna received two detentions in a single Thursday, she unscrews the door to Anna's bedroom and hides it in the basement.

Privacy is a privilege.

"That's definitely not mine!"

  • Meaningful Name: Mr. Bates, anyone?
  • Never Trust a Trailer: The trailer shows Tess and Anna switching bodies right after they open the cookies, but in the actual movie, they don't switch until the clock strikes midnight on Friday morning.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Tess, while in Anna's body, calls out the Jerkass English teacher in front of the class. She has discovered the reason he's so evil towards Anna is because he is the same guy Tess declined going to the School Prom with, so she commands him to let the past go.
  • Please Don't Leave Me: One of Tess' patients apparently has abandonment issues.
  • Refuge in Audacity: At one point, Anna in Tess' body has to go on a talk show and discuss one of Tess' books. Having never read the book, Anna instead resorts to promoting immature behavior among the adult viewers.
  • Remake Cameo: Marc McClure, Jodie Foster's love interest in the 1976 movie, plays a mailman in this film. Averted by Foster herself, who was asked to play Anna's mother and turned the role down.
  • Rule of Cool: The earthquakes that occur once the body-switching spell is cast and later reversed. (The second earthquake is even larger than the first.)
  • Sadist Teacher: Due to a petty grudge against Anna's mother, her English teacher is like this. While in Anna's body, Tess gives a very intelligent answer to a question, and he still says she's wrong.
  • Stock Phrase: Tess asks Anna not to give any of her patients advice, and instead do nothing but pretend to take notes and occasionally ask the patient, "And how do you feel about that?"
  • What the Hell, Hero?: Jake expresses disgust at Tess' erasing the answers on Stacy's scantron, as revenge for something mean Stacy tried to do to Anna.
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