At a glance, it’s easy to sum up Mark Harmon’s career as a laundry list of procedural TV shows — many of them set in hospitals or crime labs. However, the actor has frequently strayed from these roles into sillier, more fanciful territory. Such was the case in 2003 when he starred in Disney’s “Freaky Friday,” yet another adaptation of Mary Rodgers’ 1972 novel and an iconic film for millennials the world over.
The stars of “Freaky Friday” are, of course, Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis, both arguably at the peak of their respective powers in the early 2000s. When a strange bout of magic causes the mother and daughter they play to switch bodies, antics, as they say, ensue. Harmon plays Ryan, boyfriend to Curtis’ widowed Tess Coleman and would-be stepfather to Lohan’s Anna. It’s a departure from the gruff charm that “NCIS” fans will associate with Harmon, as Ryan’s just about the sweetest father figure you could ask for in a film like this one. Amidst the chaos, Harmon’s performance is a grounding force, and it’s hard not to fall for him as he tries to win over Anna’s approval.
There are absolutely some things in “Freaky Friday” that have aged like old milk (looking at you, vague fortune cookie curse), but if you add some asterisks, it’s still a fun time. For many, it remains a defining film of the era, and Harmon’s performance as Ryan is a key piece of that success.
