After asking a carnival wishing machine to turn him into a grown-up, a 12-year-old becomes a 30-year-old man. This Tom Hanks comedy was one of numerous age-swapping comedies in the 1980s.
I actually won’t be able to see this fun movie – I’ll be at work. But, I’ve chosen it because I’d prefer to be on the couch at home this afternoon.
All of us have days when we wish for things to be different, don’t we? I’m only dreaming of a couch potato matinee today because I’m still not 100 per cent after catching a cold last week. I certainly wouldn’t want to do this every day.
But I should be careful what I wish for - that's what these type of films teach us. The grass is actually not always greener on the other side.
Here are some other age swap movies I can think of:
18 Again! An 81-year-old man has a taste of his lost youth after a magical car accident causes him to swap bodies with his 18-year-old grandson, but his new body forces him to see his life from a new perspective.
An 11-year-old son and his dad get to understand each other a little better after a mystical skull causes them to swap bodies for a while.
Freaky Friday
A sparring mother and daughter learn to understand each other better after they both simultaneously make a wish to swap places. The first version in 1976 starred Jodie Foster and Barbara Harris, the second in 1995 stared Shelley Long and Gaby Hoffmann, and the third in 2003 starred Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis.
A workaholic surgeon is forced to reassess his priorities after a spiked Bloody Mary causes him to swap bodies with his teenage son.
This is essentially a remake of Big, but with Jennifer Garner growing up too fast instead of Tom Hanks.
On Sci-fi this afternoon at 3pm
