Freaky Friday

I ran across this movie on digital cable as well, so I thought it would be a good choice for my final book into feature film selection. As with the other two selections, I read the book first.

This was an interesting book - much darker than I thought it would be when I checked it out. The story is about a girl named Annabel and her family. The story begins with Annabel waking up in her mother's body. She isn't nearly as shocked or alarmed by it as I thought she should be. She goes through a day as her mother and learns a lot about herself in the process. She has to be responsible for her annoying kid brother Ben (aka Ape Face) and learns that he doesn't hate her. She also attends a parent-teacher conference and finds out what her teachers really think about her. At the end of the book, we learn that Annabel's mother is responsible for the switch and they trade identities. Annabel decides to change her ways.

Believe it or not, I actually preferred the movie to the book on this one! I watched the modern version with Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan. The writers made the story much more interesting because they explored the reactions of both Anna and her mother. The movie is really funny and they tie everything together nicely. I did notice that there are several subtle references to the book, such as the boy falling for the mother, Ben actually liking Anna, and Anna's realization that she needs to change her ways. The movie stuck to the general story but made it better, in my opinion.