2003, PG, 93 minutes

Is there a more under-utilized actress in movies today than Jamie Lee Curtis? A gifted comedienne, Curtis can do wonders with a decent role (A Fish Called Wanda, True Lies). Unfortunately, however, she has appeared in more than her fair share of duds (Perfect, House Arrest, Virus, and so on). Perhaps this is why the Hollywood A-list has always eluded her. In Disney's thoroughly enjoyable new version of Freaky Friday, Curtis thankfully has another showcase for her considerable talents.

Here Curtis plays Dr. Tess Coleman, a multi-tasking psychiatrist and widowed mother of two. Her fifteen-year-old daughter Anna (Lindsay Lohan) is a typical fun-loving teen who doesn't mix very well with her somewhat rigid mother. Tess is completely involved in her upcoming wedding to Ryan (Mark Harmon), while Anna would rather spend time playing bass guitar with her band.

Further conflict arises when Anna's band lands an audition at L.A.'s House of Blues on the very same night as Tess's wedding rehearsal dinner. Tess won't even consider such a thing. The mother-daughter tension comes to a head during a family dinner at a Chinese restaurant. Anna and Tess are arguing by the ladies' room when a meddling Chinese hostess interrupts to offer her "special" fortune cookies. When the two cookies are opened (cue special effects), Tess and Anna experience an earthquake that no one else notices, strangely enough.

The next morning, Anna wakes up in the mother's body and Tess wakes up in the daughter's body. Hilarity ensues, you might think facetiously. But the laughs start and they keep coming, thanks to the quick and breezy pace from director Mark Waters, but mostly because of the inspired comedic work of Curtis and Lohan. The actresses have obviously studied each other's characters closely, for Curtis is completely believable as Anna, as is Lohan as Tess.

Tess and Anna decide to keep their little mix-up a secret until they can figure out how to switch back, so they decide to go through freaky Friday as normal. While the girl attends to her mother's psychiatric patients, the mother reacquaints herself with the trauma of high school. Neither of them has an easy day, to say the least.

Freaky Friday offers a formula that's been done before. Not only was there the original 1977 Jodie Foster-Barbara Harris version, but we also had those dreadful 1980s body-swapping comedies like Vice Versa and Like Father, Like Son. Jamie Lee Curtis is the main ingredient those other movies lacked. This movie gives her the chance to cut loose in a well-written role, something she gets far too rarely. Maybe Freaky Friday will give her career the boost it deserves. Or maybe she just needs a new agent.