Herbie: Fully Loaded (2005)

How can they make me feel so many emotions with just a little car? I watched this film, I don’t even know how many times as a child. I don’t even know why it has become such a nostalgic film for me… But, I swear this is the reason I hated going to get my first car scrapped when it died on me. Herbie made me feel that cars have emotions! I just love this cute little Volkswagen Bug. All he wants to do is race!

Herbie began as a set of movies created in the late 60s, throughout the 70s and even briefly in the 80s and 90s. In 2005, they brought Herbie back with a brand new cast. ‘Herbie: Fully Loaded’ stars Lindsay Lohan, Michael Keaton, Justin Long, Breckin Meyer, Matt Dillon and Cheryl Hines. I do love the cast of this movie, it’s classic early 2000s.

From ‘Magic’ to ‘Working for the Weekend’, from ‘Born to be Wild’ to ‘More Than a Feeling’; the soundtrack for this film is amazing. I do think the music has to be one of the best qualities.

I can completely accept that this is not a film to break cinematic history, it’s not ground breaking. But it’s just rubbish escapism. It has a solid plot that’s easy to follow: Maggie Peyton (Lindsay Lohan) has always wanted to race, but her father (Michael Keaton) will not allow her to. It’s lucky she then meets (yes meets) the car who would do anything to race again.

‘Herbie: Fully Loaded’ has become a nostalgic film from my childhood. Watching this today, I can see why it’s hated, I could probably see why it’s disliked for the generation growing up watching the original Herbie films too. Nevertheless, I become lost into this fantasy world where a car has the biggest dream. Plus, I love that Maggie wants to become a race car driver despite it being seen as a ‘male’ profession. I just enjoy the simple escapism of this movie.

Freaky Friday (2003)

I used to watch this film repeatedly. A comedy of Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan swapping bodies, it always made me laugh. And it still does… The main synopsis of the film is that mother and daughter (who don’t get along) end up swapping bodies, living as each other on an extremely important day for both of them. With the mother about to get married and the daughter in for a chance of her band hitting big, the body swap couldn’t come at a worse time for either of them.

Straight away from the beginning of the film, we learn that mother and daughter, Tess (Jamie Lee Curtis) and Anna (Lindsay Lohan) do not see eye-to-eye. Tess lives her life in a lot of organisation and preparation; however, Anna is the complete opposite. Both believe their lives are easier than the other. Tess deals with day-to-day adult life with a career and soon to be husband, along with raising two children. Anna deals with high school life; a mix of bullies, teachers who will always disagree with her and her first real crush. You learn pretty quickly what the personalities of these characters are, which is very important for a film which includes a body swap.

I do believe that ‘Freaky Friday’ is a family classic. The body swap is brilliant. Tess becomes Anna, Anna becomes Tess. Jamie Lee Curtis transformed into the rebellious teen is never-a-miss comedy. Her snidey gimmicks and looks are hilarious as the family are in complete confusion about who their mum has turned into. Lindsay Lohan is also comical as the drastic performance turns from uprising teen to always in control mother. Her struggle to remember she is now the sister rather than the mother to Harry is fantastically funny as she accidentally calls him “honey”. His confusion is excellent to watch as he usually expects chaos and madness in a sibling rivalry.

‘Freaky Friday’ is a brilliant comedy. I will always remember the initial reaction from Anna as “I’m old” when she discovers she’s no longer in her body. And the classic solution of running into each other to fix the problem. The grandpa and Harry also have to get a mention, as their comedy has to make the audience smile – the gimmick of Harry copying his grandfather’s panic in an earthquake is enough really! This family comedy shouldn’t be one to be lost in history, it is funny and full of nostalgia back to 2003.

Mean Girls (2004)

This film is the number one chick flick of the early 2000s. If you went to school at a similar time this came out (like me) and you hadn’t seen this film, you’d have been missing out on so many conversations. All the girls in my class could quote this film like the back of their hands (again, including me). Whether it was: “She doesn’t even go here” or “*cough* *cough* I’m sick” or “It’s October 3^rd” or even “On Wednesday’s we wear pink”; it was the film to see and the film to adore in its age. Nevertheless, seeing it at the age of 23 today, I still love it in all of its teen glory as one of the best chick flicks to ever hit the screen.

‘Mean Girls’ follows new girl Cady (Lindsay Lohan) trying everything she can to fit into mainstream school after being home-schooled most of her life. Second day in, she makes friends with the best characters on screen, Janis (Lizzy Caplan) and Damian (Daniel Franzese). Although, Cady’s life takes a turn when she suddenly makes friends with The Plastics, aka the Popular Girls, aka the Mean Girls: the leader Barbie Girl, Regina George (Rachel McAdams) and her two closest followers, Gretchen Wieners (Lacey Chabert) and Karen Smith (Amanda Seyfried). Cady quickly learns the top rules to be in this ‘exclusive group’ while plotting her own sabotage with Janis and Damian.

As I’ve already said, ‘Mean Girls’ was the film to quote. It has hilarious one-liners that have always been so memorable. The film is full of comedy and over-the-top dramatics with exaggerated cliques and gossip. A film of house parties, back-stabbing, an obsessive wannabe mum and three conversation phone calls. This chick flick also has the cheesy romance with cringe-worthy sentences from our main protagonist, but it’s “grool” (you know, great and cool together?). There are also so many stars to love from the cast, you’ll be surprised by how many you recognise! ‘Mean Girls’ hits all of the right notes with teenagers of the same age. A fantastic and successful hit, I still believe teens would love this film even if a little dated. Or even just, it’s a film full of nostalgia for those my age!