Filed under: Film Reviews
17 Again is not the first film to do the whole forward/back in time thing. Jennifer Garner did it in Suddenly 30; there have been a billion Disney movies about it; if it’s not going to a different time in the same body, it’s something like switching bodies with someone else. Basically, there have been a lot of movies about being in an unfamiliar body or time with hilarious consequences, right?
But despite this, 17 Again manages to stay fresh and funny. It’s obviously aimed at teens who dig a bit of the rom-com action (and a lot of the Zac Efron action), but there’s enough substance and wit in the dialogue to allow adults to enjoy it just as much.
The film starts in 1989 where Mike O’Donnell (Zac Efron), a talented 17-year-old basketball player, learns that his girlfriend Scarlet (Allison Miller) is pregnant and leaves his major basketball game to follow her. We then cut to twenty years on, where Mike (now played by Matthew Perry) and Scarlet (Leslie Mann) have just separated, and Mike is living with his geeky Star Wars-loving best friend Ned (Thomas Lennon). After unsuccessful bonding attempts with his two children Maggie (Michelle Trachtenberg) and Alex (Sterling Knight), Mike realises that his life has not panned out how he thought it would and wishes for a chance to do it over – and, you got it, he gets that chance from one of those wacky ‘Spirit Guide’ guys and ends up back at his old high school under the name of ‘Mark Gold’, Efronned up, under the guise of being Ned’s son, mingling with (and trying to help) his kids as well as trying to win the affections of his wife back.
The storyline is amazingly predictable as all teenage comedy films are, but the performances and dialogue are sharp and provide something that everyone is able to relate to. Watching young Mike speak to Maggie about who she can and can’t date (when she doesn’t even know who he is) is hysterical for viewers, particularly teenage girls who have probably had the same experiences with their fathers – watching him interact with Scarlet who is unaware of his true identity is heartbreaking and intriguing.
Efron, who came to fame with the Disney Channel tween hit High School Musical, proves himself here as actually quite a decent actor – he’s excellent when he’s goofing off in the film’s awkward slapstick scenes, but is just as quick to switch into a serious role at the climax of the film. It will be hard for him to be taken seriously after the all-singing, all-dancing antics of Troy Bolton in not one, but three feature films – and it may take some work for him to ease into films that aren’t geared specifically towards a screaming 12-year-old audience, but this performance shows that he’s not lacking in the potential.
For the geeks out there, 17 Again provides some quality nerd humour in the subplot romance between Ned and school principal Ms Masterson (Melora Hardin), who at first appears to be an uptight cold fish disgusted by Ned’s ‘peacocking’ attempts but reveals herself later to be fluent in Elvish and an avid fan of Halo. This subplot is actually one of the strongest parts of the film in general, providing genuinely funny jokes that adults will appreciate (and that will probably go right over tweens’ heads).
17 Again is not a masterpiece nor is it original, but honestly, who expected it to be? It’s a feel-good movie that ends in the way you’d expect it to end (although the children never find out that their friend was actually their father, which is annoying because then how can they appreciate his help?) – but it provides laughs along the way and is a heartwarming and entertaining way to spend 102 minutes of your life.
Plus, Zac Efron is a babe. *disappears to watch Jonas Brothers 3D concert like every other 12-year-old on the planet*
