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

Justin’s rating: Remember guys, cooking makes you a sissy! Thanks, 1976!

Justin’s review: That there are currently five movies and a musical based on the classic body swap tale of Freaky Friday speaks to the power of Mary Rodgers’ 1972 novel and its approach to forcing families to develop some grace and empathy*. Before now, I’ve never actually seen the 1976 original with a young Jodie Foster, but my birth year and this body swapping legacy demanded it!

In classic Disney style, we have an outlandish concept that results in some family bonding. In this case, it’s Friday the 13th, and slightly estranged mother-and-daughter Ellen (Barbara Harris) and Annabel (Foster) make a foolish wish to live out a day in each other’s skin. Trigger wonderfully bad animations, and presto! Body swap achieved.

Annabel, now wearing her mother’s body, finds that homemaking is an incredibly stressful experience, especially with her father (John Astin without his trademark mustache) dropping chore after chore on her. Ellen, now a teenager, has to spend a day at high school navigating classes, playing field hockey, and doing some inexplicable water skiing thing. They may have crammed too much into a single day to make any of this believable as the life of an average teen.

While we do get some of the expected “Oh ho! I have learned something about my loved one I never knew and that makes me understand them more!” moments, a bulk of Freaky Friday is nothing more than a lot of old school slapstick. Create an outlandish situation and keep ratcheting it up until it’s all ridiculous and presumably the audience is rolling in laughter. And while you’re at it, slather the soundtrack with the most ’70s funky action beat and do a little Benny Hill speeding-up of certain scenes.

The basic acting is fine — not great, but fine — and there are a few decently good laughs. But I had a hard time easing into any real enjoyment. I think the biggest factor that held me back is that this movie over-depends on inner narration to carry a lot of scenes, as Ellen and Annebel talk to themselves and explain things to us. Very little of it is necessary and it comes off as hokey.

Barbara Harris is an absolute knockout, and seeing her (or her stunt double) pull off some slick skateboarding made me smile and had my kids asking if they actually had skateboards in 1976. I guess they did, kids! I was still crapping my diaper at the time, so I wasn’t taking inventory on such things.

However, Jodie Foster, as much as I respect the actress she grew up to become, didn’t really do well by this film. She’s basically a sourpuss throughout the thing and ends up forcing her daughter’s body to get a makeover so that she’ll be respectable when she gets her body back.

I’m still of the opinion that the 2003 Freaky Friday is by far and away the best of this franchise — and that had very little ’70s funk score to handle. So unless you’re an O.G. loyalist, I say skip this one and go for higher quality.

*Although the idea originally came up in the 1882 (!) novel Vice Versa, which has its own series of movie adaptations.