There is just some Disney comedic humor that should never be revisited. The expiration date is too long past. To even open the lid is just trouble for the ol' gag reflex. So I steadfastly refused to sit down with BB and Bunny when they cracked open the original version of Freaky Friday last week. But on the night of the second half, curiosity got the best of me. I overheard something that made my feet walk right in there so my eyes could get a closer look.
It was the part where the daughter, Annabelle, trapped in her mother’s body, is in the kitchen trying to get a handle on the nightmare of housewifely chores. The phone rings. It’s Annabelle’s father, who is at work. What is his job? Whatever it is, it’s obviously made the man as much a nervous wreck as Darren on “Bewitched” used to be. Anyway, the dad calls in a panic. He is in charge of a regata down at the marina, to impress all the big-wigs, and his caterer just quit. He needs somebody to make dinner for 25 people, and bring it to the marina, in three hours. And his first thought – no, surely there was no thought process involved –his first action is to call his wife and holler for her to work a miracle.
Let’s review here. Dinner. Twenty-five people. Three hours.
Annabelle, flabbergasted, stammers into the phone that she can’t possibly pull off this feat. She is thirteen years old, you see, yet she understands the laws of time, space and distance better than a full-fledged adult. But the dad just paints right over all objections. Of course she can do it, she’s a good girl, she’s a real life-saver, etc.
Then! As if that weren’t bad enough! The dad hangs up, and sighs in relief! To his way of thinking, just by virtue of having placed one phone call, he solved his problem. He gave his crisis completely away. He is a new man.
At this point, I’m afraid I started to lecture the screen.
I mean, I do remember that even in 1976 when I first saw this, everybody considered Annabelle's dad to be a thoughtless asshole. But nothing about this would even begin to play in Philly today. Imagine your reaction to a phone call like that. Or even the reaction of a teen who’s trapped in her mother’s body. “Oh, your caterer quit? Shit, that’s terrible! I hope your staff will help you scare up some deli trays around town right away! Well, you better get crackin'. Good luck!”
OMG, but who can resist seeing what a firecracker of an actress Jodie Foster was? I remember how I *so* *totally* wanted to be her...
Actually, I don't think I ever got over that...
Posted by: Ms. Jane | January 24, 2005 at 03:43 PM
I wanted to be Jodie Foster in "The Little Girl Who Lived Down the Lane" until I realized that in real life you don't get to kill Martin Sheen (a task reserved for Denise Richards these days)! So I settled for wanting to be Liza Minelli in "Cabaret" (because of those really FABULOUS nails she displays early on in the film--"divine decadence darling" was my password throughout highschool--).
After a while I gave up and just decided I wanted to be Harrison Ford in "The Frisco Kid" or maybe even Joe Montana (in real life, as it were).
Nowadays I just want to be Howie Long in "Broken Arrow" or (once in a while) Malcolm Macdowell in "Star Trek: Generations" ("I have an appointment with eternity and I don't want to be late"). Although I guess it would be cool to be Anthony Hopkins on "Silence of the Lambs" but no fava beans please, I'm on a diet....
Posted by: Anthony | January 25, 2005 at 07:12 AM
*snort!* That was funny, Anthony.
Posted by: Jo | January 25, 2005 at 07:34 AM