Kong
08-26-03, 12:54 AM
After seeing the trailer for Freaky Friday Kong was convinced that the movie would suck something fierce, and this feeling only got stronger and stronger with each repeated viewing of that horrendous piece of marketing doo-doo. So, when the movie came out and recieved a large percentage of good reviews Kong was astonished. He wondered, "Is Kong the only sane person left on this friggin' planet! For God's sake, this can't be a good movie! It's crap. It has to be crap!"
Boy oh boy was Kong wrong. Freaky Friday isn't just a good movie; it's a very good movie.
You probably know the plot already: Anna and her mother end up switching bodies and literally living in the other's shoes for a day. What you might not know is how funny, and witty the movie is. Really! It's so much fun to watch a family movie that doesn't aim so low that it leaves the adults with tears of boredom or embarrasment streaming from their eyes, and Freaky Friday plays it so smart that you more likely to be astonished that family films can still be this bright. The only part of the movie that is sub-par is the exposition, but luckily the big change happens fairly early and the film really takes off from there.
The two lead actresses, Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis, are truly wonderful. You can really tell that they are having tons of fun with the switcheroo roles, and their spunkiness is somehow able to jump straight out of their performances and into the viewer, making this an engaging and delightful fare. We know from the start how things are going to end up, but with parts performed with such flare we cannot help but become somewhat invested in these characters.
The message of the film is, of course, delivered a bit heavy-handed, but this is typical for the family genre, and not really worth fretting about. At any rate, it's a positive theme, and one that plays well for all ages.
Freaky Friday is tons of fun so go and see it.
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Kong would like to take a moment to defend Freaky Friday on one point: the allegation of racism.
One critic, Ed Park from the Village Voice, said that the film was, "racist bull****," because the switcheroo was instigated by an old Chinese woman who worked at the Chinese restaurant where Anna and her family ate. Ed Park seems to think that this is meant to appeal to "yellow-peril" anxieties, but it seems that Mr. Park is conviniently ignoring a few things in his rather ignorant assessment. First off it is clearly shown that the lady, who gives Anna and Tess the fortune cookies which cause the change, is well intetioned and acting out of benevolence. Second, the big switch ends up being the best thing that could have ever happened to Anna and Tess. How is portraying a Chinese lady as acting benevolently and performing the biggest favor of two peoples lives racist? The worst you could say about the mother is that she is meddlesome.
It's sad that a critic for a prominent paper would take such an unfair position on what is really a very decent film.
Boy oh boy was Kong wrong. Freaky Friday isn't just a good movie; it's a very good movie.
You probably know the plot already: Anna and her mother end up switching bodies and literally living in the other's shoes for a day. What you might not know is how funny, and witty the movie is. Really! It's so much fun to watch a family movie that doesn't aim so low that it leaves the adults with tears of boredom or embarrasment streaming from their eyes, and Freaky Friday plays it so smart that you more likely to be astonished that family films can still be this bright. The only part of the movie that is sub-par is the exposition, but luckily the big change happens fairly early and the film really takes off from there.
The two lead actresses, Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis, are truly wonderful. You can really tell that they are having tons of fun with the switcheroo roles, and their spunkiness is somehow able to jump straight out of their performances and into the viewer, making this an engaging and delightful fare. We know from the start how things are going to end up, but with parts performed with such flare we cannot help but become somewhat invested in these characters.
The message of the film is, of course, delivered a bit heavy-handed, but this is typical for the family genre, and not really worth fretting about. At any rate, it's a positive theme, and one that plays well for all ages.
Freaky Friday is tons of fun so go and see it.
----
Kong would like to take a moment to defend Freaky Friday on one point: the allegation of racism.
One critic, Ed Park from the Village Voice, said that the film was, "racist bull****," because the switcheroo was instigated by an old Chinese woman who worked at the Chinese restaurant where Anna and her family ate. Ed Park seems to think that this is meant to appeal to "yellow-peril" anxieties, but it seems that Mr. Park is conviniently ignoring a few things in his rather ignorant assessment. First off it is clearly shown that the lady, who gives Anna and Tess the fortune cookies which cause the change, is well intetioned and acting out of benevolence. Second, the big switch ends up being the best thing that could have ever happened to Anna and Tess. How is portraying a Chinese lady as acting benevolently and performing the biggest favor of two peoples lives racist? The worst you could say about the mother is that she is meddlesome.
It's sad that a critic for a prominent paper would take such an unfair position on what is really a very decent film.