The Movie Guru: ‘Freakier Friday’ and ‘Happy Gilmore 2’ both solid sequels

‘Freakier Friday’ (in theaters)

The purpose of a sequel is to complicate things without negating what happened in the original.

On that note, “Freakier Friday” is a solid, satisfying sequel. It shakes up the original concept without seeming like a retread, keeps the focus on strengthening family relationships, and maintains the original’s goofy tone. There are a few missed comedic opportunities, particularly with one character’s English accent, but there are some genuinely funny moments you won’t necessarily expect.

The movie returns to our characters more than 20 years later, with Lindsay Lohan as a single mother with a teenage daughter. She finds love with a single dad (Manny Jacinto) who has a teenage daughter the same age, but unfortunately the two girls hate each other. When their parents get married and there’s a question of possibly moving to England, a wacky psychic complicates the situation. (Thankfully, the vaguely racist fortune cookie issue has been eliminated.)

Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis are a solid comedic due, and Julia Butters and Sophia Hammons prove to be one as well. It was a little hard for me too feel sympathetic to the girls at the beginning, given their plans, but teenagers watching might feel exactly the opposite.

It’s the supporting cast that offers some of the best moments, though. Mark Harmon is nicely droll as Lohan’s pickleball-obsessed stepfather, and Jacinto proving himself to be particularly adorable as everyone’s dream man.

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The funniest of the bunch is Chad Michael Murray, making a return appearance as Lohan’s high school sweetheart.

Grade: Two and a half stars

‘Happy Gilmore 2′ (Netflix)

Happy Gilmore is back, and I’m surprisingly pleased to see the guy.

Even almost 30 years after the original, “Happy Gilmore 2” is an unexpectedly worthy sequel. It’s oddly sweet, appropriately raunchy, and nostalgic in a way that feels satisfying instead of cheap. Yes, it’s still very much an Adam Sandler movie, and if you didn’t like the original “Happy Gilmore” you’re not going to find anything here that will change your mind. But Sandler has actually put some thought into this one, and Gilmore both feels like he’s grown up while still feeling very much like his angry, raunchy self. Even more importantly, he’s just as funny as he’s ever been.

The movie starts where the last one went off, hurrying though several years of Gilmore’s golfing success, happy marriage and children. Then tragedy hits in a way that’s both ridiculous and makes complete sense, and Gilmore slides back down to the bottom. When his daughter needs to go to ballet school, though, he tries to get back into golf. When a scummy executive tries to replace real golf with a “cooler” version he’s copyrighted, though, he’s got to play for something more serious.

There are tons of nods to the original, including acknowledgements for actors who have since passed away. The movie will actually occasionally provide clips of the original in case you don’t get the reference, in the context of Gilmore’s memories so it even makes sense in the flow of the movie. Not all of them will be funny, but it’s nice that the movie makes absolutely certain you won’t miss the joke.

After all, we’re all getting older.

Grade: Two and a half stars

Jenniffer Wardell is an award-winning movie critic and member of the Denver Film Critics Society and the Utah Film Critics Association. Drop her a line at themovieguruslc@gmail.com.