longcooljolie

There are actually three iterations of "Freaky Friday," including the 1976 one with Jodie Foster, the one with Shelley Long in 1995, and the one with Jamie Lee and Lindsay from 2003. This is the only one with a sequel, and for the most part, it's a fun ride.

For Jamie Lee, she might have longed for a chance to do something fun besides the endless "Halloween" rehashes, and for Lindsay, it's just nice to see her in a major movie again after Jamie Lee coaxed her into it (according to the trivia entries) and they are both part of the producer team.

This movie demands your full attention and almost completely requires the viewer to have seen the first one because there are so many nods to it. Without giving too much away, this time there are four, count 'em, four people involved in the body swap, and sometimes it did get confusing to follow who is in whose body.

Maybe the best thing is that it has captured the spirit of the best live-action Disney comedies going back decades because of the mix of silly fun and sentimentality. It also has relatable bits for today's teens, millennials, Gen X-ers, and of course boomers. Even young children will enjoy the spectacle of a food fight in an earlier scene and older people acting silly in later scenes, such as by careening around in a classic Chevy Camaro.

The men involved make the most of their roles, too as with Manny Jacinto, Annabelle's new love interest, Chad Michael Murray reappearing as Jake from the first one (and STILL uncannily attracted to Jamie Lee's Tess), and of course handsome Mark Harmon radiates California cool halfway into his seventh decade.

It all comes to a very satisfying close in a musical way which, the less said about it the better. It's very joyful and ties up all the loose ends nicely, kind of a payoff for the earlier jokes that don't land as well, some earlier scenes that seem tacked on and the earlier-mentioned challenge of keeping up with who's who.

There is an eight-screen movie theater in my town, and since I'd had some work successes, I wanted to treat myself to a movie. My choices were; yet another Superman reboot, yet another Fantastic Four movie (unsure if reboot or not), yet another Jurassic sequel, Elio, a Smurfs reboot, something called "The Home," and the "How to Train your Dragon live action."

Then, there was this.

It starred Brandon Louth, which made me go hm. Since his turn as the Man of Steel, he has kept fairly busy on television, but I remember his appearance in "Zack and Miri make a porno," which was only a short while after Superman Returns. He seemed animated and relaxed in his role (a very brief but somewhat important one in that movie) and I remember thinking that if they allowed that side of him to come through in his Superman movie it might have been better received.

For the first part, he's in high school and it made me wonder if they used de-aging technology or if, with the makeup he could still look that young even in his mid-40s. I think it might be both. Happily, for the rest of the movie he got to show the side of him that was so appealing in "Zack and Miri."

The movie itself is somewhat of a rapid-fire assault on the senses and is made for a completely different demographic than me. As other reviewers have said, the "Ick" depicted in the movie might be a metaphor for culture rot so prevalent today.

And yes, it does get a little slapdash at the end, but overall it was fun to see a little creativity and fun in a movie for a change. I also got the sense that some of the easter eggs other reviewers have described might reveal themselves more in a repeat viewing.

The length and pacing hit the sweet spots for a movie such as this, and as another reviewer has said, it looks like everybody had a good time making it. I had a good time seeing it, and since Brandon was one of the producers, I want to say thank you to him for turning out something semi-original.

This movie has always fascinated me as near-perfect, so when I watched it on Hoopla (for about the 50th time I've watched it overall) I've finally decided to voice my thoughts here on IMDB.

The opening scene is brilliant because it reveals flashbacks that will come into play in a big way later on, and it so deftly shows Zach's relationship with his father in a few simple brush strokes. Supposedly, there is a deleted scene where Byron (Zach's father, portrayed by Robert Loggia) comes to the base to visit, but thank God they left it out.

Richard Gere was so perfect in the role of Zach and so hot, even with a buzzcut, that it's impossible to imagine either John Travolta or especially John Denver portraying him. Zach goes through a complete change of character in the movie, and it is very satisfying to watch.

And the many reviews from actual service people reveal that many aspects of the program and especially Sergeant Foley's (Lewis Gossett Jr.) actions were spot-on. Some pointed out that in actuality, there is no OCS base anywhere in Washington, but so what? It's a movie.

Congrats to the producers on including several strong female characters. Paula and Lynette literally change for the dance on the base on the way there in Lynette's car, and they smoke pot while doing it. This was very true to the time period. Also, the producers very wisely included one female OCS candidate, portrayed by Lisa Eilbacher, who turns out to be a very important character in Zach's dramatic arc.

For me, one of the most effective scenes was when Paula's mother stops her from rushing off to the base to try and hunt Zach down after he has not called her for a date. To say anything else would be a spoiler, so for those who've never seen OAAG, look for it about two-thirds of the way in. Here's a clue: the OCS school had been there for decades and many young women had gone to the dances there in hopes of finding a husband.

And yes; the ending is cool! At the time, some critics pooh-poohed it, but I loved it while watching it back in the day and I still love it now.