I admit, I've got a real weakness for the body-switching or wish-fulfillment fantasy movies like Freaky Friday and Big and 13 Going On 30 and 17 Again. You can blame me, then, for the fact that these kinds of movies seemingly never go away, and that practically every week a different studio thinks they've got the perfect fresh take on the old formula. Latest up to bat is Fox, which THR reports has picked up the movie rights to Adena Halpern's novel 29, about a 75-year-old woman who gets the chance to be 29 again for a single day.
The novel, which was pegged to "certainly be made into a successful film" in the first line of this review, is apparently a comic caper right in line with the Big tradition; as the protagonist teams up with her granddaughter to enjoy her newfound youth, while her friends believe that she's been kidnapped and set out to find her. I love the concept entirely, but have to roll my eyes at Fox apparently trying to make the film "an event movie for women." Yes, I realize that's exactly what Sony did with Julie & Julia and what Universal did with Mamma Mia!, but still, doesn't it feel a little condescending?
