If anyone was left psychologically scarred from the events of 2003’s Freaky Friday, it was Jake. Chad Michael Murray’s hot, motorcycle-riding bad boy was just living his life as a high-school student (ostensibly — Murray was in his 20s and looked it, but never mind that) when he gets looped into the madness of the body-swapped Coleman women played by Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis.
Sure, he had a light flirtation with Lohan’s punky Anna before she was trapped in the skin of her mother, Tess. But he really gets worked up by the concept of Anna in Tess’s body with a pixie cut and a low-cut dress. Anna-as-Tess spouts knowledge of rock and brags about how she’s not into the White Stripes, but she also looks like Jamie Lee Curtis in all her mature (extremely hot) glory. Jake is super into that whole vibe. Like, so into it that he stands outside her window at night and serenades her with a severely off-key rendition of “… Baby One More Time.” He’s so obsessed, it’s a little weird he ends up with Anna at the end of the movie. I know that’s how these movies are supposed to end, but let’s be real: Jake had a mommy complex.
Knowing this makes Murray’s presence in Freakier Friday all the better. There’s no real reason for Murray to be in the sequel, set 20-odd years later. Who still regularly sees their high-school boyfriend? But screenwriter Jordan Weiss, who developed the story with Elyse Hollander, seems entirely aware of how far-fetched this is. The actor’s role here is more than a simple nostalgia play — it’s the best recurring gag in the entire movie, with a hilarious, unexpected performance from the former One Tree Hill heartthrob.
Jake gets drawn into Freakier Friday’s story when Anna’s daughter Harper and soon-to-be stepdaughter Lily — having swapped bodies with Anna and Tess, respectively — concoct a plan to break their parents up. Harper thinks her mom has written a moony song about this guy she knew as a teen, so the girls decide to find Jake and make him fall back in love with Anna, thus putting a stop to her impending wedding.
They discover that Jake and Anna are still friendly and in touch on a professional level. He runs a record store; she’s a music manager–slash–former rock star. But when Harper-as-Anna attempts to flirt with him, he’s baffled. She fails so miserably, he thinks she’s having a stroke. Then he finds Lily-as-Tess trying to hide among his merchandise, and suddenly we understand his whole deal.
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Jake is still extremely horny for Tess. He actually asks how close her husband is to death so he can finally be with her. Basically, he has a Jamie Lee Curtis thing that he has not shaken for two decades. (Who among us?)
Murray plays this turn excellently. The first time we see him in Freakier Friday, he’s embodying that cool-guy aura that made him one of the leading hunks of the early aughts. He takes off his motorcycle helmet and lets his long, impeccably highlighted locks shine in the California sun. He is chill incarnate. But when faced with the prospect of reuniting with Tess, Murray turns Jake into a total simp. His eyes go puppy-dog bashful as he gazes at her. Clearly, he wants this woman to dominate him.
The beautiful thing about this development is you can imagine what kind of psychosexual trauma Jake has had to unpack over the years. What was going through his head when he was dating Anna in her teen years? Was he pining for her mom in the next room whenever they made out? Presumably, he got to know the real Tess, not just the Tess with Anna’s brain, and was still into her. Or maybe the whole experience just messed with him so much that the only woman he can truly get it up for is someone who looks exactly like Curtis — personality doesn’t really matter for him.
Of course, this Disney movie doesn’t get into all of that, but you can infer it from the sheepish look in Murray’s eyes when he shows up at Anna’s rehearsal lunch desperate for Tess’s attention. All this buried sexual tension builds to a perfect punch line where Jake introduces his date to Tess at Anna’s wedding — she’s dressed exactly like Tess was in Freaky Friday. Curtis’s face implies that Tess both is weirded out and has been fending off this man’s desire for years. There’s a bit of sympathy for him. After all, her hotness ruined him for all other women.
Here’s a pitch for the third movie: Have these two finally hook up. Jake deserves it.
