Movie Review – 17 Again

In 17 Again, Zac Efron grows up to look like Matthew Perry, an idea impossible and amusing enough to tell you the movie is a fantasy-comedy. The story opens in 1989, and Mike O’Donnell (Efron) is about to lead his high school basketball team to victory. The crowd is cheering, talent scouts are in the crowd taking notice, and Mike’s beautiful girlfriend, Scarlet, is there, seemingly to cheer him on.

No, it isn’t a High School Musical prequel, because Scarlet turns out to be pregnant, and instead of taking the winning shot, Mike ditches the game and dedicates himself fully to her. Twenty years later, and Mike’s glory days are twenty years behind him. He and Scarlet have since married and are about to divorce, his two children (Michelle Trachtenberg and Sterling Knight) can’t stand him, and he’s just been overlooked for a much-deserved promotion.

One night, while driving through the rain, he finds a mysterious janitor (Brian Doyle Murray) readying to jump off a bridge. In an effort to save the janitor, Mike falls off the bridge and into a whirlpool. He survives the fall unscathed, but discovers that he’s now twenty years younger.

Body-switch comedies often tinker with the concept, and here the twist is that Mike has physically regressed yet remains in the present day. He has the opportunity to start his life over, but instead infiltrates his old high school to befriend his kids and be the father he was supposed to be.

One of the keys to the movie’s charm is the selflessness of Mike’s objective. The other, surprisingly, is Zac Efron. I’ve only seen him in the High School Musical trilogy and Hairspray, and maybe it was because both were frenetic musicals and he was lost in the shuffle, but neither was an appropriate showcase for his charisma and comic timing.

In one of the movie’s funniest scenes, Mike attempts to lecture a trio of teen girls throwing themselves at him on the importance of respecting themselves. In scenes like his, Efron isn’t trying to be in on any joke. He believes what he’s saying; the joke is that he’s saying it. I expected to like the movie in spite of his performance, not because of it.

There’s also some very funny writing and a genuine shift towards poignancy in the film’s last act. 

The movie’s message is a simple, one, yes—that sometimes your big plans can change for the better—but instead of writers Jason Filardi and Keenan Donahue clanking it over our heads; they allow the characters to participate in actions that make it authentic.

There are certainly some silly moments—after Mike’s best friend, Ned (Thomas Lennon) discovers his de-aged best friend in his home, he and Mike engage in a duel of lightsabers, Ned bonds with the school’s principal (Melora Hardin) over the Elvish language (one of many fantasy references), there’s a villainous basketball team captain, and apparently Mike’s kids have  never seen an old picture of their dad—among other minor contrivances that never threaten the movie’s appeal. Despite some of its shortcomings, 17 Again is just too likable to dislike.

Rating:

Advertisement