17 Again

In 17 Again, Matthew Perry plays 30-something husband and father Mike O'Donnell.  Mike is at a personal and professional nadir.  He is in the midst of a divorce from his wife, Scarlett (Mann), to whom he has been married since she became pregnant during their senior year of high school.  He is also finding it difficult to relate to his teenage children Alex (Knight) and Maggie (Trachtenberg).  To make matters worse, he also finds himself unemployed and living with his high school buddy, Ned (Lennon), a dot-com millionaire who uses his wealth to indulge his undying fanboy obsessions.  After an encounter with a mysterious janitor who asks him if he ever wished he could do his life over again, Mike finds himself transformed into his teenage self (Efron).  Convincing Ned to pose as his father and enroll him at the local high school, Mike decides to relive his glory days, but quickly becomes more interested in helping his kids negotiate the minefield of adolescence.

Adult/teen body swap films seem to show up often enough that a term should be coined for the genre.  17 Again offers nothing more than a slight modulation over what has come before and is not the film to turn to if you are looking for something ambitious or original.

Given the project's high-concept entirely predictable plot (the average viewer who has seen even one advertisement for the film will know exactly how things are going to play out before the credits sequence is over) and saturation marketing program aimed at teenagers, my expectations going in were exceptionally low.  With that in mind, I am happy to report that my low expectations were exceeded.  The film gets by largely on the strength of its cast, all of which do their best to make something interesting out of what, at their core, are pretty stock characters.  The supporting cast is filled with comedic ringers such as Leslie Mann, Thomas Lennon, and Melora Hardin.  The subplot involving Lennon's attempt to court high school principal Hardin is almost completely unnecessary, but funny enough that one does not begrudge its presence.

At the center of the fillm, High School Musical teen idol Zac Efron gives a surprisingly assured performance as a grown man in his former teenage body.  It seems effortless, but probably took a lot of hard work between Efron, Perry and director Burr Steers.  Without obviously appropriating any of Matthew Perry's mannerisms (and we all know he has his share of them from previous performances), Efron manages to maintain character continuity through the whole film.  One wonders how teenage girls viewing the movie will respond to their pin-up idol acting like a 35 year old man for the length of the film, but it is absolutely what is required to sell the film's somewhat flimsy premise.

In the end, the filmmakers set the bar low and manage to clear it handily.  The result is a mildly entertaining sporadically funny time-passer.  
 

The Video ***½