17 Again

Viewer Rating:simonconnolly has rated 17 Again rating: 3 Star

In high school Mike O'Donnell had it all. He was in love with a beautiful girl, star of the basketball team with the chance of a full college scholarship. The just before the game which could decide his future the girlfriend, Scarlett tells him that he after knocking her up. He abandons the game for her and then the film cuts forward 20 years where we see just how big of a mistake this was. Mike is in a bad job to which he is unappreciated, Scarlett is now divorcing him and the troublesome kids want nothing to do with him. The while in the old school, reminiscing a white-haired man asks him if he would do it again. He says yes and shockingly he ends up fresh faced and pubescent as he is…. 17 Again, hence the film's imaginative title. He then gets to work fixing his life by making his son popular, getting his daughter away from her twat of a boyfriend and oddly enough making Scarlett fall in love with 17 years-old him. After doing so he simply turns back into the fat, old and boring Mike O'Donnell. Despite the plot being for this film being one which has been used and abused so many times before 17 Again manages to retain some degree of originality and is generally entertaining. It's far better than most of the past role reversal films such as Freaky Friday (Both of them), Big and of course the diabolical Hot Chick. It doesn't try very hard to impress and this laid back sense to it makes it quite an easy and enjoyable watch. There were a few annoying features such as the ridiculous idea of Zac Efron turning into Matthew Perry (really ludicrous) and the 37 year old Scarlett falling for 17 year old Mike, who she thinks is a nephew. It was quite creepy and almost promotes paedophilia, pretending it's your husband is the key. Despite this I liked it and one of the best things about it was the cast performances. Zac Efron shows there is life after Disney and hopefully he will now leave the monstrosity of a franchise that is High School Musical behind. He was surprisingly funny and seemed very comfortable in his comedic role. I must admit I have a lot more respect for him after this and would even go as far to say I would like to see him in more non-musical films. Matthew Perry was good but extremely underused. He failed to make a substantial impact and I'd say that overall he had about 5-10 minutes of screen time for the entirety of the film, despite being quite central to the story. This was a bit of a mistake as the audience weren't really given a chance to get to now and show sympathy for the character. Leslie Mann was terrific as usual. In my opinion she is the best comedy actress around at the moments. Many critics in the past have said that her rise to fame is due only to her spouse (Judd Apatow). I'd agree with this to a certain (small) extent but it is undeniable that she is a hugely talented and comical actress who always does her best and impresses hugely in doing so. For me though Thomas Lennon completely stole the show. I'm a fan of his thanks to his roles on Reno 911 and the recent I Love you Man. He never gets a lot of screen time but he uses what he's given brilliantly and is always hysterical. So all in all this is a fairly enjoyable film. The idea was good but nothing new and the film was better than it should have been with it. It was pretty well directed. There was nothing really spectacular and the special effects were terrible. The film never dragged on though and some scenes were captured relatively well. The cast as a whole were phenomenal and they made the film better than it would've been without them. This is basically your typical teen flick in many ways, with a little sense of originality. Girls will probably love seeing Efron getting his kit off while guys should like much of the gags. So 17 Again is a tender, funny,, at times moving and thoroughly enjoyable film which I would recommend to anyone in and around the age mentioned in the title.

Review published on the 19 May 2009 00:57