Entertainment
20+ Great Movies Where Characters Swap Ages or Bodies
They say you can gain a lot of perspective by walking in someone else's shoes, but switching bodies is a surefire way to develop empathy and understanding. The top age and body swap movies feature characters waking up in each other's skin, much to the delight of movie-goers. This is a list of body and age swap movies featuring everything from Big to 17 Again to 13 Going on 30.
What films will you find on this list of the best age swap comedies? Freaky Friday is a classic in the body swap genre – so enduring, in fact, that it's been remade multiple times. When a mother and her teenage daughter trade bodies, they learn a lot about the stress and struggles of each other's daily lives. Peggy Sue Got Married is another entertaining age swap movie. A pair of old friends swap bodies – and lives – in the 2011 comedy, The Change-Up. Other good films featured on this top age and body swap movies list include All of Me, Wish Upon a Star, and Dream a Little Dream.
Which of these age swap movie deserves the top spot on this list? Give your favorites a thumbs up to move them to the top of the list, and add any titles that are missing.
Ranked by
- 1Ryunosuke Kamiki, Mone Kamishiraishi, Masami Nagasawa
- Released: 2016
- Directed by: Makoto Shinkai
Your Name is a 2016 Japanese romance fantasy anime film directed by Makoto Shinkai. A high school girl in rural Japan and a high school boy in Tokyo experience a strange phenomenon: they occasionally ...more - 2Jennifer Garner, Mark Ruffalo, Judy Greer
- Released: 2004
- Directed by: Gary Winick
A girl who's sick of the social strictures of junior high is transformed into a grownup overnight. In this feel-good fairy tale, teenager Jenna (Christa B. Allen) wants a boyfriend, and when she's ...more - 3Jamie Lee Curtis, Lindsay Lohan, Mark Harmon
- Released: 2003
- Directed by: Mark Waters
Single mother Tess Coleman (Jamie Lee Curtis) and her teenage daughter Anna (Lindsay Lohan) couldn't be more different, and it is driving them both insane. After receiving cryptic fortunes at a ...more - 4Samaire Armstrong, Kevin Zegers, Emily Hampshire
- Released: 2006
- Directed by: Nick Hurran
Pretty teen girl Nell (Samaire Armstrong) is extremely bookish and can't wait to move on to higher education, while her dim-witted neighbor and classmate, Woody (Kevin Zegers), wants nothing more ...more - 5Tom Hanks, Elizabeth Perkins, Robert Loggia
- Released: 1988
- Directed by: Penny Marshall
After a wish turns 12-year-old Josh Baskin (David Moscow) into a 30-year-old man (Tom Hanks), he heads to New York City and gets a low-level job at MacMillen Toy Company. A chance encounter with the ...more - 6Zac Efron, Leslie Mann, Thomas Lennon
- Released: 2009
- Directed by: Burr Steers
Mike O'Donnell (Matthew Perry) was a high-school basketball star with a bright future, but he threw it all away to marry his girlfriend and raise their child. Almost 20 years later, Mike's marriage ...more - 7Claudia Karvan, Guy Pearce, Matt Day
- Released: 1996
- Directed by: Megan Simpson Huberman
Television show host Brett (Guy Pearce) and his laid-back science journalist girlfriend Tash (Claudia Karvan) despair that they will ever truly understand each other. On their first anniversary, ...more - 8Katherine Heigl, Danielle Harris, Lois Chiles
- Released: 1996
- Directed by: Blair Treu
Wish Upon a Star is a 1996 television film directed by Blair Treu, written by Jessica Barondes, and starring Katherine Heigl and Danielle Harris. It focuses on two teenage sisters that magically swap ...more - 9Barbara Harris, Jodie Foster, John Astin
- Released: 1976
- Directed by: Gary Nelson
Annabel Andrews (Jodie Foster) and her mother, Ellen (Barbara Harris), don't always see eye to eye. After a particularly frustrating argument on Friday the 13th, the two simultaneously wish they ...more - 10Ellen Barkin, Jimmy Smits, JoBeth Williams
- Released: 1991
- Directed by: Blake Edwards
Steve Brooks (Perry King), a sexist womanizer, is killed by a group of his angry former lovers. In heaven, he makes a bargain with God for redemption and agrees to return to Earth. Once there, he ...more - 11Ryan Reynolds, Jason Bateman, Leslie Mann
- Released: 2011
- Directed by: David Dobkin
Once inseparable pals, Dave (Jason Bateman) and Mitch (Ryan Reynolds) have drifted apart over the years. Dave is an overworked lawyer and family man, while Mitch has thus far avoided most of the ...more - 12Judge Reinhold, Fred Savage, Corinne Bohrer
- Released: 1988
- Directed by: Brian Gilbert
After an airport mishap leaves businessman Marshall Seymour (Judge Reinhold) in possession of a mysterious skull following a trip to the South Pacific, he unwittingly falls victim to its magical ...more - 13Adolphe Menjou, Carole Landis, John Hubbard
- Released: 1940
- Directed by: Hal Roach
Tim (John Hubbard) and Sally Willows (Carole Landis) are unhappily married. Tim spends his days working at an advertising agency, while Sally lounges around the house. One day a distant relative ...more - 14George Burns, Charlie Schlatter, Tony Roberts
- Released: 1988
- Directed by: Paul Flaherty
Following a car accident on his 81st birthday, ruthless businessman Jack Watson (George Burns) discovers that he's somehow switched bodies with his timid 18-year-old grandson, David (Charlie ...more - 15Steve Martin, Lily Tomlin, Victoria Tennant
- Released: 1984
- Directed by: Carl Reiner
While on her deathbed, the rich Edwina Cutwater (Lily Tomlin) has her lawyer Roger Cobb (Steve Martin) add the odd stipulation to her will that her soul will be inherited by the young Terry Hoskins ...more - 16Kathleen Turner, Nicolas Cage, Kevin J. O'Connor
- Released: 1986
- Directed by: Francis Ford Coppola
Peggy Sue Bodell (Kathleen Turner) attends her 25-year high school reunion after separating from her cheating husband, Charlie (Nicolas Cage). She regrets the decisions she has made in her life, such ...more - 17Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, Jack Warden
- Released: 1978
- Directed by: Warren Beatty, Buck Henry
Joe Pendleton (Warren Beatty), quarterback for the Los Angeles Rams, is killed in an auto accident. In the afterlife, Joe discovers that his guardian angel (Buck Henry) has taken him from his body ...more - 18Sean Astin, Dudley Moore, Kirk Cameron
- Released: 1987
- Directed by: Rod Daniel
Like Father Like Son is a 1987 comedy film starring Kirk Cameron and Dudley Moore. This film has a similar premise to but is not a direct remake of the 1976 classic Disney film Freaky Friday. The ...more - 19Rob Schneider, Anna Faris, Matthew Lawrence
- Released: 2002
- Directed by: Tom Brady
Not only is Jessica Spencer (Rachel McAdams) the most popular girl in school -- she is also the meanest. But things change for the attractive teen when a freak accident involving a cursed pair of ...more - 20Vivica A. Fox, David Alan Grier, Rue McClanahan
- Released: 1999
- Directed by: Peter Bogdanovich
A Saintly Switch is an American made for TV comedy film directed by Peter Bogdanovich and produced in 1999 in by Walt Disney Entertainment, first exhibited on ABC's The Wonderful World of Disney. The ...more - 21Regina Hall, Issa Rae, Marsai Martin
- Released: 2019
- Directed by: Tina Gordon Chism
Jordan is a take-no-prisoners tech mogul who torments her long-suffering assistant, April, and the rest of her employees on a daily basis. She soon faces an unexpected threat to her personal life and ...more - 22Alec Baldwin, Meg Ryan, Kathy Bates
- Released: 1992
- Directed by: Norman René
Peter (Alec Baldwin) and Rita (Meg Ryan) immediately fall for each other and decide to get married. But during their wedding reception, a feeble old man (Sydney Walker) asks Rita for a kiss. While ...more - 23Cybill Shepherd, Robert Downey, Ryan O'Neal
- Released: 1989
- Directed by: Emile Ardolino
A man's love for his pregnant wife, Corinne Jeffries (Cybill Shepherd), is interrupted when a car accident sends him to heaven. He is reincarnated, however, and two decades later he is a writer named ...more - 24Corey Feldman, Corey Haim, Victoria Jackson
- Released: 1989
- Directed by: Marc Rocco
Dream a Little Dream is a 1989 teen film directed by Marc Rocco and stars Corey Feldman, Corey Haim, Meredith Salenger, Jason Robards, Piper Laurie and Harry Dean Stanton. It was filmed in ...more - 25Chris Rock, Regina King, Chazz Palminteri
- Released: 2001
- Directed by: Chris Weitz, Paul Weitz
When amateur comedian Lance Barton (Chris Rock) finds himself at Heaven's door, he is convinced there has been a mistake. Miraculously he is right. Since returning to his own body is not an option, a ...more
