Tag: JamieLeeCurtis

Freakier Friday

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Twenty two years ago, Anna (Lindsay Lohan) and Tess Coleman (Jamie Lee Curtis) swapped bodies. Now Anna has become just like her mom and is trying to raise her teenage daughter Harper (Julia Butters). When Anna falls in love with Eric (Manny Jacinto) and the two decide to get married, Harper is less than thrilled. Eric has a daughter named Lily (Sophia Hammons) and the two girls cannot stand each other. After an encounter with a physic at Anna’s bachelorette party, history ends up repeating itself.

Twelve year old me loved the original Freaky Friday back in 2003. Not only did I see it more than once in the cinema, I wore out that VHS tape! I knew each line and all the song lyrics. I wanted to be Lindsay Lohan and I was in love with Chad Michael Murray. Upon my rewatch I was pleased to see that it still holds up. While news of the sequel was no surprise, I didn’t think it was necessary. What did surprise me was how much I enjoyed it!

It felt like no time had passed with Lohan and Curtis reprising their iconic roles. You can tell that they are having the time of their lives. Playing teenagers made for some hilarious hijinks. I was in absolute stitches at the scene where Harper as Anna is taking to Anna’s former flame Jake (Chad Michael Murray) in the record shop. Butters and Hammons are welcome additions who mix things up. They had just as much fun eating junk food and zipping around LA on scooters.

Plenty of other familiar faces have returned as well. It was so nice to see the likes of Mark Harmon as Ryan, Lucille Soong as Grandma Chiang and Rosalind Chao as Mama P., Ryan Malgarini as Harry and Stephen Tobolowsky as Mr. Bates again. Pink Slip is back too with Christina Vidal and Haley Hudson as Maddie and Peg giving yet another brilliant performance of Take Me Away. In fact, there are so many little easter eggs scattered throughout that makes it so much fun.

I was not expecting to get so in my feels. Not only did the film once again focus on mother daughter relationships, it also threw in themes of found family, loss, grief and acceptance. Lily losing her mother hit too close to home and I sympathised with her for not wanting to open her heart up again. On the other hand, Anna and Harper on stage in the final act almost had me full on sobbing. If you know you know.

Overall, Freaky Friday did not need a sequel, but I’m glad they made one. Fans of the original will be happy while newcomers will be able to fall in love with the franchise right away. Lohan and Curtis are in top form while the Butter and Hammons are worthy additions. Somehow Disney was able to completely up the stakes making for another brilliant outing.

Rating: ♥️♥️♥️♥️.5

The Last Showgirl

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Directed by Gia Coppola, The Last Showgirl follows Shelly (Pamela Anderson), a dancer, who has been working at Le Razzle Dazzle for almost thirty years. Nobody can believe it when they hear that the show will be closing. Suddenly Shelly, along with the people she’s come to know and love, must think about what they want to do with the rest of their lives.

After hearing so much about Anderson’s career best performance, I knew that I had to check it out for myself. Having been misunderstood in the past, many have overlooked her talent. She has proved everyone wrong with this role. The fact that it was written with her in mind says a lot, but she still puts in the work and the pay off is priceless. The nominations she received were one hundred per cent warranted.

The rest of the cast are perfect in their roles too. We’ve got Jamie Lee Curtis as Shelly’s friend Annette, a former showgirl who now works as a cocktail waitress. In some ways she’s the complete opposite of our protagonist, but their friendship is heartwarming to watch. Brenda Song and Kiernan Shipka portray Mary-Anne and Jodie respectively, two fellow dancers who look up to Shelly and think of her as a mother figure. Dave Bautista steps out from his usual action persona to play Eddie, the club owner, while Billie Lourd is Shelly’s tentative daughter trying to reach out to the mother she never really knew.

What makes this film so topical is its depiction of ageism. Shelly, who is in her fifties, is considered too old to be in show business. When she goes for auditions, she’s turned away without so much as a blink of the eye. Annette is facing a similar situation. Going from a dancer to a cocktail waitress was already something she didn’t really want to do and then she finds her hours are being cut to favor other, younger women.

Overall, The Last Showgirl may seem like a simple film, but in reality it is so much more. It is a bleak look into show business that is both eye opening and upsetting. Anderson’s performance combined with the glitzy Las Vegas background are all additional reasons as to why you should check this one out for yourself.

Rating: ♥️♥️♥️.5

Haunted Mansion

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I went to Disneyland Paris last year for Halloween and refused to go on the Haunted Mansion ride. The whole thing just gave me the creeps. When I heard that the 2003 film was getting a reboot, I felt like I’d be able to qualm my fears and, of course, to see what all the fuss was about.

Single mom Gabbie (Rosario Dawson) moves into a house that she’s pretty sure is haunted with her son Travis (Chase Dillon). She decides to hire a tour guide (LaKeith Stanfield), a psychic (Tiffany Haddish), a priest (Owen Wilson) and a historian (Danny DeVito), in hopes of exorcising the house before its too late.

While the film may feel a bit all over the place and is on the longer side, it did what it set out to do. The atmosphere of the house and the many ghosts that inhabit it had me jumping left, right and centre. The mystery was also interesting enough to keep me engaged more or less the whole way through even if it took awhile to get there.

With an ensemble cast as big as it was, some characters didn’t get as much focus as they should have. As brilliant as Stanfield was brilliant as our protagonist Ben and how outlandish and hilarious Haddish as Harriet, I wanted to learn more about the others too. We may have touched on Kent, Bruce and Gabbie, but not as much as they should have been. I also would have liked for Madame Leota (Jamie Lee Curtis) to have more screen time. At least we know we can always count on an unrecognizable Jared Leto to ham up a performance.

This updated version of Haunted Mansion has been getting a lot of flack and I don’t really understand why. It’s the perfect adventure flick the whole family can enjoy with some small jump scares and a lot of heartfelt moments. Has it convinced me to finally check out the ride? Yes, I think it may have…

Rating: ♥️♥️♥️