Movie Review: To be young again
By Nickie Reitz
Last Updated:4:02 PM EST 4/22/09 Section: Lifestyles
|
Zac Efron (High School Musical) and Matthew Perry (Friends) star in 17 Again as Mike O'Donnell, a man who is stuck reliving his high school glory days and miserable about being settled down.
Matt and his wife Scarlett (Leslie Mann) are in the middle of a divorce, because he has made her feel that she is a burden.
Mike was the star of the basketball game when Scarlett told him on the sidelines that she was pregnant. He left the court, college scouts watching, to tell her they were in this together.
Now in his late thirties, Mike cant stop thinking "what if." What if he got an athletic scholarship to college, instead of getting married young? If he went to college, he also might not be at a dead end job, selling male enhancement pills and losing promotions to new hires.
The older version of O'Donnell (Perry) goes to his alma matter to pick up his daughter Maggie (Michelle Trachtenberg, Road Trip) and runs into a janitor. The janitor catches Mike looking at his 1989 team picture, and asks him if he would go back.
Since Mike considers high school the best period in his life, he says that he'd do it over in a heartbeat.Luckily for Mike, after a rainy night and a set of weird circumstances, he transforms into his 17-year- old body.
Seeing the new Mike for the first time, his best friend Ned Gold (Thomas Lennon) confuses him with an intruder and tries to put up a fight (including a lightsaber duel).
Ned (I Love You, Man) experiences Peter Pan syndrome. Ned was Mike's nerdy sidekick in high school, who got swirlies and shoved into lockers. In his adult life, Ned is a rich software programmer who sleeps in a race car bed.
Ned enrolls Mike, nicknamed Mark, into high school, posing as his father. Ned provides the biggest laughs in the movie, especially upon shaking the principals hand and saying (Melora Hardin, The Office)- "I think our hands made a baby."
High school isn't the way it was in 1989. Students text in class and aren't afraid of showing PDA, including Maggie with her boyfriend. Mike also discovers that his son Alex (Sterling Knight) is the basketball team's punching bag and navigates school dodging bullies.
Zac Efron is the perfect cast for the young Matt. Even viewers that hate the High School Musical franchise will be won over by Efron (he doesn't sing in this). Don't be surprised if Efron starts to appear in more adult roles.
It also helps that Efron is a sight for sore eyes (in the opening scene, Efron is shooting hoops shirtless and perspiring), especially in comparison to Perry, who is starting to grey. If you want to avoid giggling preteens, see the movie when kids have school.
Going back in time, Matt learns a thing or two about his own life, through a set of fresh eyes. Sure, the plot has been done before (Big, Freaky Friday) but 17 Again speaks to all audiences about the high school experience. After this film, Vanessa Hudgens will have to hold on even tighter to Efron.


Be the first to comment on this story