17 Again Review

Published by Jeff Leins on: April 19th, 2009

Somewhere along Disney’s High School Musical gravy train, Zac Efron danced his way into the hearts of screaming teenage girls everywhere.  With that trilogy wrapped and the original cast transitioning to more mature roles, Efron is attempting an adult emergence of his own in this stepping stone to stardom.

Perhaps Efron isn’t fully prepared to graduate quite yet because he returns to high school for another semester in 17 Again.  Then minutes into this familiar body swap comedy, Efron is already center court busting into a choreographed dance routine.  At least he doesn’t sing.

The break dance number is the PG-13 way of showing his character, Mike O’Donnell, was the popular kid in school during the year 1989.  (That’s how you made friends, right?  Show off a few improvised, yet somehow synchronized, hip hop moves to impress your peers?)  O’Donnell’s basketball scholarship and college career are cut short when his girlfriend Scarlett reveals she’s pregnant.

Twenty years later, an adult O’Donnell (Matthew Perry) is having a rough time in life.  He’s a dinosaur in the pharmaceutical sales industry, he has distant relationships with both his children, and his sweetheart-turned-wife Scarlett is demanding a divorce.  Thanks to a magical janitor and a swirling vortex in the river (thanks It’s a Wonderful Life) Mike suddenly becomes seventeen again with a chance to make things right.  Pull out your notepads everyone, we’re all about to learn a valuable lesson.

It takes a while to establish the premise, dragging its happy feet through the first half of the story until Efron completes the transformation and finishes sorting through the necessary “wait, but is it really you?” plot points with his childhood friend, Ned (Thomas Lennon from “Reno: 911″).  With Ned’s help, Mike re-enrolls in high school in order to help his lip-locked daughter (Michelle Trachtenberg) and his socially awkward son (Sterling Knight) navigate past a bad boyfriend and a cliche bully.  Luckily the menace is the same punk kid and Efron doesn’t have to challenge him to a dance off.

Despite his teenage body and “perfectly quaffed hair,” Mike still has the mentality of a grown man.  The humor occasionally comes from a boyish Efron lecturing his classmates about the importance of abstinence or being respectful of their bodies.  However, it overuses this gimmick and soon Efron is playing father-knows-best with every kid in school.  The biggest stretch may be believing the characters aren’t creeped out by his wisdom chats more than imagining a man becoming a teen again.

Lennon does his best to supply intermittent comedy relief in an eyebrow-raising side plot, but Efron is clearly running the show here.  Perry’s part is small and fans of “Friends” will recognize the same sarcastic tone and mannerisms.  Leslie Mann as the adult Scarlett is lovable but underutilized comically, much like comedian Jim Gaffigan as the average basketball coach.  It’s no surprise the other actors are there to just run lines with Efron, but it’s a shame director Burr Steers didn’t try for anything fresh or funny.

Teenage girls will shriek with enjoyment (especially when Efron removes his shirt), but adults will find 17 Again nothing more than a retread of every other age switch movie.  It’s swift and good-natured though and you can easily do much worse at the box office.

2.5 out of 5