One of the tried-and-true plot devices in all of storytelling is the idea of body switching. It’s when two characters with opposite personalities switch bodies and then have to cope with what it’s like walking a mile in someone else’s shoes.

It’s an idea that covers lots of different genres, and it gives writers and directors plenty to play with on the screen.

This fun trope has given us some of the best movies of all time, and today, I want to dig into all of them and give you all a ranking.

Let’s dive in.

1. Face/Off (1997)

Director: John WooWriters: Mike Werb, Michael CollearyCast: John Travolta, Nicolas Cage, Joan Allen, Gina Gershon

An FBI agent undergoes a radical surgical procedure to take on the face and identity of a terrorist to uncover a bomb plot. The plan goes awry when the terrorist awakens and takes the agent’s face in return.

This is the gold standard for action body-swap films – it also may be the only one I know about, but I love it so much.

John Woo’s direction is balletic and explosive, but the movie soars because Nicolas Cage and John Travolta give gloriously unhinged performances.

2. Your Name. (Kimi no Na wa.) (2016)

Director: Makoto ShinkaiWriter: Makoto ShinkaiCast: Ryunosuke Kamiki, Mone Kamishiraishi, Ryo Narita

Two high school students, a boy in Tokyo and a girl in a rural town, inexplicably begin to swap bodies intermittently. They must learn to navigate each other’s lives while a much larger cosmic mystery unfolds around them.

This animated movie is visually breathtaking and emotionally profound. It uses the body-swap trope not just for comedy, but to tell a deeply romantic and heart-wrenching story about connection, memory, and fate.

3. Freaky Friday (2003)

Director: Mark WatersWriters: Heather Hach, Leslie DixonCast: Jamie Lee Curtis, Lindsay Lohan, Mark Harmon, Chad Michael Murray

An overworked mother and her rebellious teenage daughter swap bodies after a mysterious incident involving fortune cookies. They are forced to live each other’s lives for a day, gaining a new appreciation for their struggles.

While the 1976 original is a classic (and appears at the end of this list), this version is arguably the perfection of the comedic formula and sets the tone of the generation to follow.

Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan have incredible chemistry and deliver hilarious, pitch-perfect performances as they mimic each other’s mannerisms.

4. Big (1988)

Director: Penny MarshallWriters: Gary Ross, Anne SpielbergCast: Tom Hanks, Elizabeth Perkins, Robert Loggia, Jared Rushton

I had a hard time ranking this movie, because it’s not a traditional swap between two people. But the movie is amazing, and I think it’s a unique spin on the formula.

A 12-year-old boy wishes to be “big” and wakes up the next morning in the body of a 30-year-old man.

Tom Hanks earned his first Oscar nomination for his iconic childish performance, perfectly capturing the innocence, wonder, and fear of a kid navigating an adult world.

5. 13 Going on 30 (2004)

Director: Gary WinickWriters: Josh Goldsmith, Cathy YuspaCast: Jennifer Garner, Mark Ruffalo, Judy Greer, Andy Serkis

In 1987, a 13-year-old girl makes a birthday wish and wakes up as her 30-year-old self in 2004, with no memory of the 17 years in between.

This movie is os genuine. It’s a spiritual cousin to Big and is pure wish-fulfillment. Jennifer Garner is radiant as a kid who taps into the fun and fears of adulthood. It’s a sweet, funny, and nostalgic rom-com.

6. Being John Malkovich (1999)

Director: Spike JonzeWriter: Charlie KaufmanCast: John Cusack, Cameron Diaz, Catherine Keener, John Malkovich

A struggling puppeteer discovers a small portal in his office building that leads directly into the mind of actor John Malkovich for 15 minutes at a time.

Honestly, this might be the most original idea I have ever seen. It takes well-trodden tropes and just knocks them out of the park.

Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman created a philosophical, hilarious, and deeply weird exploration of identity, celebrity, and consciousness.

7. Get Out (2017)

Director: Jordan PeeleWriter: Jordan PeeleCast: Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Catherine Keener, Bradley Whitford

A young Black man visits his white girlfriend’s parents for the weekend, where his simmering uneasiness about their overly accommodating behavior boils over into a terrifying discovery about their true intentions for him.

This is such a noisy hook, you forget the whole plot revolves around body switching as a powerful metaphor for racism and the exploitation of Black people.

8. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017)

Director: Jake KasdanWriters: Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers, Scott Rosenberg, Jeff PinknerCast: Dwayne Johnson, Jack Black, Kevin Hart, Karen Gillan, Nick Jonas

Four high schoolers in detention are sucked into a video game, inhabiting the bodies of the avatars they chose. The nerdy kid becomes a muscle-bound hero (Dwayne Johnson), and the popular girl becomes a portly cartographer (Jack Black).

An incredibly fun and clever update to the Jumanji story that understands when you play a game, you get to be somebody totally different.

The comedy comes from the fantastic performances, especially Jack Black’s hilarious portrayal of a teenage girl and Dwayne Johnson’s charming take on an insecure nerd.

9. All of Me (1984)

Director: Carl ReinerWriter: Phil Alden RobinsonCast: Steve Martin, Lily Tomlin, Victoria Tennant

A frustrated lawyer’s body is partially inhabited by the soul of a recently deceased, eccentric millionaire. She controls the right side of his body; he controls the left.

This is a masterclass in physical comedy from Steve Martin, who is doing the Lord’s work here, making us laugh. Watching him struggle for control of his own limbs is comedic genius, perfectly complemented by Lily Tomlin.

10. Freaky (2020)

Director: Christopher LandonWriters: Michael Kennedy, Christopher LandonCast: Vince Vaughn, Kathryn Newton, Katie Finneran, Misha Osherovich

A bullied high school girl and a middle-aged serial killer swap bodies after he stabs her with a mystical dagger. She has 24 hours to get her body back before the swap becomes permanent.

I really like this movie. It knows its tone has to be fun, and it leans into it at every turn. Vince Vaughn is hilarious as a teenage girl in a killer’s body, and Kathryn Newton is genuinely menacing as a killer in a teen’s body.

12. Source Code (2011)

Director: Duncan JonesWriter: Ben RipleyCast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga, Jeffrey Wright

A soldier wakes up in the body of an unknown man and discovers he’s part of a government program that allows him to cross over into another man’s identity in the last 8 minutes of his life to find the bomber of a commuter train.

It’s a high-concept Groundhog Day meets body-swap that riffs on the tropes and adds in a few others for fun. You get both a compelling mystery and a surprisingly emotional story.

11. The Skeleton Key (2005)

Director: Iain SoftleyWriter: Ehren KrugerCast: Kate Hudson, Gena Rowlands, John Hurt, Peter Sarsgaard

A hospice nurse working at a remote Louisiana plantation home finds herself entangled in a dark mystery involving the house’s previous occupants and a sinister form of folk magic called Hoodoo.

This film uses the body-swap concept for pure, slow-burn horror, and it has a great payoff. It builds an incredible sense of Southern Gothic dread, leading to a genuinely shocking and unforgettable twist.

13. The Hot Chick (2002)

Director: Tom BradyWriters: Tom Brady, Rob SchneiderCast: Rob Schneider, Anna Faris, Rachel McAdams, Matthew Lawrence

A shallow, popular high school cheerleader swaps bodies with a scummy, small-time criminal in his 30s thanks to a pair of enchanted ancient earrings.

Rob Schneider’s commitment to playing a teenage girl is the comedic engine that really drives this story. It’s such a simple idea…a hot girl becomes an ugly guy, and that’s mostly why it works.

14. Vice Versa (1988)

Director: Brian GilbertWriters: Dick Clement, Ian La FrenaisCast: Judge Reinhold, Fred Savage, Swoosie Kurtz, Corinne Bohrer

One of a trio of father-son swap movies from the late ’80s, this one sees a stressed-out department store executive and his 11-year-old son switch bodies via a mystical Tibetan skull.

The 80s were obsessed with swap movies. People were switching all the time. This is just a father-son Freaky Friday that is adorable and a Freudian nightmare.

15. Possessor (2020)

Director: Brandon CronenbergWriter: Brandon CronenbergCast: Andrea Riseborough, Christopher Abbott, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Sean Bean

This cerebral sci-fi horror film follows an elite corporate assassin who uses brain-implant technology to inhabit other people’s bodies, driving them to commit assassinations for high-paying clients.

I’m afraid of anyone named Cronenberg, and while I love their big ideas, they often creep me out and stick with me forever.

This movie delves into the psychological toll of losing one’s identity and makes you really understand that body swapping is basically just possession after all.

16. Soul (2020)

Directors: Pete Docter, Kemp PowersWriters: Pete Docter, Mike Jones, Kemp PowersCast: Jamie Foxx, Tina Fey, Graham Norton, Rachel House

A middle-school band teacher who dreams of being a jazz musician falls down a manhole and finds his soul separated from his body. In his quest to return, his soul is accidentally paired with a cynical, unborn soul, and they both end up back on Earth—but in the wrong bodies.

Leave it to Pixar to find the deepest way to explore these themes. They gave us a metaphysical film that uses its body-swap mechanics to explore the very meaning of life and what makes it worth living.

17. The Change-Up (2011)

Director: David DobkinWriters: Jon Lucas, Scott MooreCast: Ryan Reynolds, Jason Bateman, Leslie Mann, Olivia Wilde

A married, overworked lawyer and his slacker best friend complain about each other’s lives and magically switch bodies after urinating in a public fountain.

Honestly, I am surprised we don’t have more raunchy, R-rated takes on the classic setup. There is so much room to explore the weird and wild side of switching bodies. The chemistry between Bateman and Reynolds shows as they have a blast mimicking each other’s comedic personas.

18. Shazam! (2019)

Director: David F. SandbergWriter: Henry GaydenCast: Zachary Levi, Asher Angel, Mark Strong, Jack Dylan Grazer

A foster kid named Billy Batson is granted the power to transform into an adult superhero by an ancient wizard. He has to learn to control his new powers while still being a kid on the inside.

This is basically Superhero Big. This film’s joy comes from watching a kid react to being a superhero who can do anything they want.

19. Self/less (2015)

Director: Tarsem SinghWriters: David Pastor, Àlex PastorCast: Ryan Reynolds, Ben Kingsley, Matthew Goode, Natalie Martinez

An extremely wealthy man dying from cancer undergoes a radical medical procedure that transfers his consciousness into a healthy, young body. He soon discovers the dark origins of his new form.

Kind of wild that Ryan Reynolds is in both a comedy and a serious drama that are both about switching bodies.

20. Freaky Friday (1976)

Director: Gary NelsonWriter: Mary RodgersCast: Barbara Harris, Jodie Foster, John Astin, Patsy Kelly

The one that started the modern trend and kicked off at least 19 imitators. A mother and daughter who are constantly at odds with each other wish to switch places for a day, and magically, they do.

This set the standard for every body swap to follow, with all the conventions laid out for everyone to see. You wouldn’t have the other movies on this list without it.

Summing It All Up 

Body switching is one of the most fun tropes in all sorts of genres. As you can see, you can apply it to comedy, horror, and anything in between to add some really funny set pieces and character arcs.

Did I miss your favorite version of these kinds of movies?

Let me know what you think in the comments.