Zac Efron graduates high school and becomes a star.
Director: Burr Steers
Notable Cast: Zac Efron, Leslie Mann, Thomas Lennon, Matthew Perry, Sterling Knight, Michelle Trachtenberg, Melora Hardin
17 Again is the sort of movie that comes across as being so fresh that it seems custom made for critics to slap crappy, clichéd hyperbole all over it. Yes, it is a feel good movie. Yes, Zac Efron is a delight. But 17 Again deserves better than to be praised with stock quotes so that writers can get their names on the poster.
The most instantly obvious praise to offer 17 Again is that Zac Efron is clearly a huge star in the making. He’s extremely talented and, as the high school girls sitting next to me pointed out again and again, he’s super cute. More importantly, for a movie that necessitates that viewers believe in a little bit of magic, he is convincing as a father and husband trapped in a high schooler’s body.
His first time in high school, Mike O’Donnell (Efron) had it all, but it all seemingly falls apart when his girlfriend tells him she’s pregnant. Twenty years later, Mike (Matthew Perry) finds himself estranged from his wife Scarlett (comedy MVP Leslie Mann) and working at a dead end job. He hardly recognizes the confident superstar he once was and finds himself wishing he could have it all back. Through some unexplained magic (sometimes the best kind) Mike becomes (everybody now) 17 again!
Initially Mike thinks it happened so he could do his life over, this time he wouldn’t follow his pregnant girlfriend instead of playing the big game that was going to get him into Syracuse. But Mike soon realizes what he is truly supposed to do is reconnect with his children, reconcile with his wife, and remember why it was that he made the decision to stay with her in the first place.
There are some obvious twists and turns along the way, but for the most part 17 Again feels fresh because it is so earnest in its vision. It stays committed to the body switch gimmick and impressively gets some good laughs from some standard jokes. The PG-13 rating naturally gives the film some bite to it and room to fully explore the comical relationship between Mann’s lonely single mother and Efron’s youthful embodiment of her husband. Again, everyone’s dedication to the film’s magic element makes the story surprisingly believable.
Ultimately, the best part of the movie is the fact that its craftsmanship enables the audience to get completely lost in it and revisit a time in our lives when the “anything’s possible” nature of movies made us honestly believe in magic and wish we could experience it for ourselves. 17 Again gives us that ability, if only for a little bit, and upon reflection it is easy to see why critics might apply such simple idioms to describe it. The movie is so satisfying that jaded reviewers who can’t remember what it’s like to simply enjoy a movie are at a loss for words.
FINAL RATING (ON A SCALE OF 1-5 BUCKETS):
