Movie Breakdown: Freaky (Noah)
Pre-Screening Stance:
Because, as I’ve been told, I an a codger of a human who does not enjoy fun, I did not like director Christopher Landon’s previous two films – the Happy Deathday series. Though my interest is peaked by Vince Vaughan playing a high school girl trapped in a 50 year old serial killer’s body, I am not particularly, well, jazzed going into this.
Post-Screening Ramble:
I will watch Vince Vaughan play a high school girl trapped in the body of a beaten-down, poorly dressed serial killer all day, every day, for the rest of my days. It is a guilty delight to see this 6’10 slab of a man, giggle and preen and run arms akimbo as he tries to avoid the police and catch a killer trapped in the body of a high school girl. Freaky, to be frank, isn’t much more than this. Yes, there is some necessary plotting to get an ancient mystic knife into the hands of the Blissfield Butcher (Vaughan) so he can stab Millie Kessler (Kathryn Newton) and they can they switch bodies and hilarity – mainly featuring Vaughan-as-Millie realizing he has a penis – can ensue. There is also other plot, and some characters who push the plot forward, and a good amount of killing and some pretty treacly subtext and denouement. And every time I thought, wow, this movie is going to be someday viewed on the futuristic holo-implant version of late night early 90s Showtime, Vince Vaughan would slip back on stage talking all fast and pseudo-feminine and, oh boy, what a hoot. Anyways, Christopher Landon’s third movie doesn’t fall too far from the tree of his first two movies – it’s a gory version of an American classic (this time Freaky Friday) where the concept is the star and everything else – developed characters, continuity, production values – are sacrificed in its favor. And for a while the film coasts on the concept and the joy of watching Vaughan-as-Millie and the bloody kills, but you can only hang on Vince Vaughan’s hang-dog killer’s face for so long and the story grows flat and the truly middling set design and, weirdly enough, costume and make-up become more and more apparent. Because, as much as I will always cherish the moments I had with Vince-Vaughn-as-a-high-school-girl, it isn’t a lasting thing, and when it finally loses it’s sparkle, so too does the movie.
One Last Thought:
This movie has truly horrendous make-up. Like someone brought out the old make-up gun and just shot some people in the face with it and pushed them on camera. It’s rouuuuuuuugh.
