What starts out as a somewhat hoaky “Freaky Friday” for adults ends up turning into quite the little disturbing psycho-sexual fetishistic nightmare, examining sexual identity and relationships. I gotta admit, once this film got out the gates a bit it had me hooked. I had no idea where it was going, but I couldn’t wait to find out. Too bad that the finale abandons the viewer like a red-headed stepchild.
Frankie dances at a topless bar while her schleppy, failed medical student boyfriend, Terry, toils away at a used bookstore. One evening while dancing for an older gentleman, a siren goes off outside the bar. Frankie and the gentleman pass out simultaneously. The next morning, Frankie awakens to find that she’s not exactly feeling herself. In fact, she thinks that she’s a man trapped in this young woman’s body. So it takes Frankie, or whoever it is inside her body, just a little longer than the audience to figure out that she must’ve swapped identities with the man at the topless bar. This is sure shaping up to be one freaky Friday – for Frankie and for Terry who can’t understand why she’s claiming to be someone other than the person he clearly sees before her. But once this new Frankie sees how the old Frankie used to live, she decides to take control of her life, most notably the relationship between her and Terry, turning him into an apartment scrubbing slave.
It’s an exceedingly interesting ride as the relationship between Frankie and Terry becomes more and more bizarre. You really have no idea where this film is going and in that sense, it feels highly dangerous. This isn’t viewing for those who love cookie cutter movies. Anything can happen here and the forward momentum makes way for perhaps one of the greatest identity crisis films ever. But then the whole things ends with a sputter, with a cute little cleer wink at the audience that would’ve suited the wrap up for a short film, but for all that the viewer has just went through for the past 90 minutes, they deserve more than what they get here.
Despite my disappointment with how this film wrapped up, it’s still one hell of a journey to take. In fact, it’s a perfect date movie.
