Who hasn’t at least once fantasized about switching lives with someone who, from a distance, seems to have a more comfortable, secure, happier existence?While Shakespeare and others created stories about characters pretending to be someone else, it was Mark Twain’sThe Prince and the Pauperthat popularized the idea of people in opposite circumstances trying out each other’s lives. “The Parent Trap,” Disney’s 1961 and 1998 films, based on the 1949 German bookLise and Lotte,had identical twins taking each other’s place.
When Mary Rodgers wroteFreaky Fridayin 1972, about a mother and daughter switching not just places but bodies, it inspired dozens of variations. Many, like Rodgers’ book, focus on family; some, like the Hallmark “Princess Switch” trilogy, on romance; some, like “Freaky,” explore thriller or horror genres. Some play with race and/or gender, like “The Hot Chick” and “White Chicks.” And some, like “Trading Places,” with Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd, and this week’s “Good Fortune,” exploring race and class issues and economic disparity in satirical terms.
Here are some of my favorites. For this list, I am not counting “same person in an earlier version of him/herself” like “Big,” “17 Again,” and “13 Going on 30,” all of which I recommend, but only counting life-switch and body-switch stories.
11. “Turnabout” (1940)
The weirdest film on the list features a husband (John Hubbard) and wife (Carole Landis) who mistakenly argue in front of a small Indian idol in their bedroom. He thinks she has nothing to do while he works hard all day, and she believes his job must be more interesting than being a full-time wife. They find themselves in each other’s bodies the next morning. Even with a strong supporting cast that includes Mary Astor, Marjorie Main, Donald Meek, Adolphe Menjou, and director Hal Roach, who was behind some of Hollywood’s greatest early comedies, the film is primarily of interest as an artifact of its time. Another film about a couple switching bodies is the 1996 Australian film “Dating the Enemy,” starring Guy Pearce and Claudia Karvan as a bickering couple.
10. “Vice Versa” (1988)
Two movies about middle school boys switching bodies with their fathers came out around the same time. In “Vice Versa,” Fred Savage is the kid, and his father, played by Judge Reinhold, is a busy retail store executive who does not pay enough attention to his son. Roger Ebert called it “one of this year’s most endearing comedies,” noting the excellent body language both actors used to show how far out of synch their physicality and their maturity levels were.In the earlier film, “Like Father, Like Son” (1987), Dudley Moore is the reserved, proper father, a doctor, and his son, played by Kirk Cameron, is more casual and laid back. Roger Ebert gave it just one star, writing, “Everyone in the movie looks awkward and silly all of the time. This plays less like a movie than like a penalty for the losers on a game show.”
9. “Every Day” (2018)
An entity known as A wakes up every day in a different body, geographically near the last one, always his/her/their age. Other than that, the bodies A takes over for a day can be any race, any gender, any degree of ability/disability. A tries to live each day for the person whose body he/she/they are inhabiting and is deeply gratified to learn what makes each person different and what makes all people alike. And then A falls in love and, for the first time, has a reason to stay in one body. The excellent cast includes Angourie Rice, Justice Smith, and Maria Bello, and its tender-heartedness and use of the Pink song “What About Us” is captivating.
8. “Prelude to a Kiss” (1992)
Craig Lucas wrote the screenplay, based on his play about a bride who switches bodies with an elderly man after he kisses her at the wedding. It is a bittersweet love story, very much inspired by the early days of the AIDS epidemic, when a disfiguring, fatal disease ravaged beloved young, healthy people. Alec Baldwin and Meg Ryan have tons of chemistry as the young couple, and the message of loving the spirit more than the appearance is touching.
7. “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” (2017)
Chris Van Allsburg’s wonderful picture book about a magical board game, originally expanded and filmed with Robin Williams, is, in this version, a magical video game. It enables a group of high school kids in detention to become their avatars and risk their real lives. A shy boy becomes man-mountain Dwayne Johnson, a nerdy girl becomes the athletic Karen Gillen, a popular girl becomes a middle-aged scientist (Jack Black), and a football player becomes the short Kevin Hart. The action is exciting and funny, and the resolution, after they find another kid who has been stuck in the game for years (Nick Jonas) and defeat the bad guy (Bobby Cannavale), is satisfying as they bring home the lessons they learned, happy to be themselves again.
6. “The Parent Trap” (1961)
Hayley Mills played identical twins separated at birth when their parents divorced, each never knowing the other existed. They meet at summer camp, start as enemies, discover the truth, and switch identities so each can spend time with the parent they did not know. The 1998 remake starred Lindsay Lohan. Both are classic family favorites.
5. “The Prince and the Pauper” (1937)
Real-life twins Billy and Bobby Mauch give wonderfully natural performances in the title roles. “The Adventures of Robin Hood” stars, co-director, and composer bring a thrilling sense of adventure and heart to the story. Errol Flynn plays the dashing swashbuckler Miles Hendon, Claude Rains portrays the dastardly conspirator against the young prince, and the score is by Erich Wolfgang Korngold, under the direction of William Keighley. There’s a fine 1962 Disney television version with “Zorro’s” Guy Williams and “Parent Trap”-style, Sean Scully as both prince and pauper. And there are variations, including those starring Barbie, Mickey Mouse, Kid ‘N Play, and the Olsen twins.
4. “Watermelon Man” (1970)
Melvin Van Peebles directed this sharp satire with Black actor Godfrey Cambridge as Jeff, a white bigot who wakes up one morning in his suburban home to discover that he has become Black. As in the classic Eddie Murphy SNL sketch where he sees what life is like for white people, Jeff encounters an eye-opening world of difference when those around him judge him for his skin color.
3. “Freaky Friday” (1976)
The original Disney adaptation of the Mary Rodgers book is still a delight, featuring teenage Jodie Foster and Barbara Harris as the mother and daughter who switch roles. Daughter-as-mother gets to create chaos at home while mother-as-daughter gets to suffer through classes and PE. While the 2003 remake with Lindsey Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis is the best and most fondly remembered, with a 2025 sequel involving a four-way body switch called “Freakier Friday,” every one of the movies based on the Rodgers book is worth watching, including the 1995 made-for-TV version with Shelley Long and Gaby Hoffman and the 2018 musical starring Cozi Zuehlsdorff and Broadway performer Heidi Blickenstaff.
2. “All of Me” (1984)
Lily Tomlin plays Edwina, a wealthy woman who has been disabled by illness all her life. When she is close to dying, she pays Terry (Victoria Tennant), a young, healthy, but dishonest woman, to allow Edwin’s spirit to take over Terry’s body and have her first chance at a full, healthy life. Edwina’s grumpy attorney is Roger (Steve Martin), who accidentally receives Edwina’s spirit instead. The scene where Roger’s spirit and Edwina fight as he tries to walk is hilarious, and the movie is smart, funny, and very sweet.
- “Your Name” (2016)
Most body-switching films lean toward humor, but the Japanese animated feature by writer/director Makoto Shinkai, about a boy and girl who switch bodies, has a lyrical, melancholy tone.The characters do not know each other. One lives in Tokyo; one lives in the country. The way they respond by leaving messages to help one another is moving, and the visuals are lovely.
