Spoilers under for anybody who hasn’t but watched the whole thing of Rick and Morty’s newest Season 7 episode, so be warned!
Normally when Rick and Morty episodes hinge on a number of direct popular culture references destined to be spun round and turned inside-out, the ideas are morphed nicely past what their sources of inspiration have been. That sorta occurred with the second Season 7 episode, “The Jerrick Lure,” whose title is a send-up of the basic Hayley Mills body-swapping comedy The Mum or dad Lure, and whose dialogue makes a number of references to that different most well-known high-concept household movie, Freaky Friday. And though the animated sci-fi shenanigans clearly take issues excessive — with a lot of corpses, gunshots and impalings — I feel the episode presents a singular sufficient twist to the switch-em-up trope that it might be replicated partly for the long-awaited and sometimes teased sequel to Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis’ 2003 FF remake.
How Rick And Morty’s “The Jerrick Lure” Performed Out
In its chilly open, Rick and Morty arrange a complete nightmare body-swap situation, with Rick getting offended over having to examine his mind privilege, and making an attempt to impart the struggles of his intelligence to Jerry. Solely that went about in addition to it will have if Jerry himself had designed all of it, and led to a storage lined of their mind matter and different viscera. Fortunately, Rick’s constantly put-upon A.I. stepped in (because it have been) to avoid wasting the day, solely with out totally separating all of the splattered bits.
As such, the reconstituted variations of the 2 characters weren’t totally enveloped by one mind/thoughts or the opposite different, however reasonably a mixture of their polar reverse personalities. Granted, Rick’s complete alpha persona nonetheless mainly steered the ship in each respects, however not with out some grounded enter and instincts from his son-in-law, which helped additional develop the forever-frayed bond that exists between nearly all variations of Rick and Jerry. And whereas their particular relationship isn’t one that may simply be ported into different popular culture touchstones, the final idea of evenly distributed consciousnesses inside a body-swap comedy is ripe for exploration in a live-action respect.
Why Freaky Friday’s Sequel Ought to Use Rick And Morty As Inspiration
I can simply perceive why Disney hasn’t tried to fart out a Freaky Friday sequel to the 2003 hit, even regardless of producing a completely totally different remake as a Disney Channel Authentic in 2018. (And in addition not counting the 2020 horror comedy Freaky, which was produced by Common and Blumhouse.) As a result of for all intents and functions, body-swap tasks don’t are inclined to have an entire lot of wiggle room the place the principle narrative is anxious, and the principle variations from one comedy to the subsequent are inclined to contain the particular character relationships, with Massive, Vice Versa, Like Father Like Son and plenty of others as examples.
However Rick and Morty’s twisteroo would enable for fairly an attention-grabbing dynamic for a second swap between Lohan’s Anna Coleman and her mom Tess, with the previous now a completely grown grownup presumably with an entire new set of ups and downs to take care of. Reasonably than adhering to a child-centric plot, Freaky Friday’s follow-up may as an alternative proceed specializing in the mother-daughter relationship that fueled the primary movie, and in emotionally mature ways in which communicate to how households change over time. And as an alternative of Tess and Anna as soon as once more being full opposites in numerous our bodies, their swap may meld each of their personalities collectively, in order that each girls are completely able to greedy the place the opposite is coming from.
In R&M, that dynamic was clearly performed for weirdness and laughs, with Jerry and Rick each deciding that a lifetime of madcap legal enterprising, mixed with fruit-covered shirts, was extra ultimate than sticking across the household. Which in some methods was in all probability extra comfy for Beth. And even that gag may get utilized in a enjoyable manner for a Freaky Friday sequel, with Mark Harmon’s Ryan having to take care of briefly being married to each his spouse and his step-daughter. (Not that any Disney film would dig too deeply into that facet, and it’s virtually weird that the Grownup Swim comedy didn’t dive deeper into such sludgy subjects.)
To make certain, I completely get that Freaky Friday doesn’t actually have a confirmed sequel within the works or something, for all that followers have wished to see it occur through the years. Extra speak has come about in 2023 than common attributable to it being 20 years since Mark Waters’ movie hit theaters, and by all means, it looks as if Jamie Lee Curtis is , as she instructed followers it’s taking place in 2024. Plus, the Halloween franchise vet nonetheless retains in contact with Lindsay Lohan, and one would suppose if there was any indication the Imply Women star was bored with returning, Curtis in all probability wouldn’t convey it up.
I doubt anybody on the market in Sequel Greenlighting Land is listening for the time being, however simply in case: Make that film occur! And now, check out the preview for Season 7’s third episode under.
Contemplating many of the conversations surrounding Rick and Morty Season 7 so far have been wholly devoted to opinions concerning the recast voice actors and the writing within the aftermath of Justin Roiland being fired earlier this 12 months, Freaky Friday sequels may not be on the forefront of anybody else’s mind however my very own. At the very least I assume it is mine…
Rick and Morty airs Sunday nights on Grownup Swim at 11:30 p.m. ET, with episodes obtainable to stream with a Max subscription.
