We Are Your Friends 17 Again

May 14, 2022 Post a Comment

Reviews

Zac Efron grows up as Matt Perry, tries again; or, Zac to the Future

Zac Efron and Thomas Lennon in "17 Again."

Mike O'Donnell'south wife wants a divorce, his kids are remote, he didn't become the job promotion he expected, and everything else in his life has gone incorrect since that magic yr when he was 17, a basketball game star, in love, and looked like Zac Efron instead of Matthew Perry. He'southward obviously a case for treatment by a Trunk Bandy Movie.

Revisiting the trophy case at his onetime high school, Mike encounters a janitor who, from the way he smiles at the camera, knows things beyond this mortal coil. If only Mike could go back to 17 and not make all the same mistakes. In "17 Again," he can. He falls into a Twilight Zone vortex and emerges as Zac Efron. They say be conscientious what you wish for, considering you might get it. Mike should take been more specific. Instead of wishing to exist 17 once more, he should accept wished to go back 20 years in time.

Yes, he becomes himself trapped inside his own 17-yr-onetime trunk. Same married woman, same kids, same issues. As Erstwhile Mike getting divorced, he'd moved in with his best friend, Ned (Thomas Lennon), and now he throws himself on Ned'due south mercy: Volition Ned pose equally his father, and then Young Mike tin exist his son and help out his kids past enrolling in the same loftier schoolhouse again? Ned, who is a software millionaire and middle-age fanboy, agrees, specially after he falls helplessly in beloved with the high school primary, Jane (Melora Hardin).

Young Mike becomes the new best friend of his insecure son, Alex (Sterling Knight). And then he meets Alex's mom, Scarlet (Leslie Isle of mann), who, of course, before the vortex was his married woman, and before that his loftier school bride (Allison Miller). She thinks information technology's strange that he looks exactly like the boy she married at 17. He explains he is the son of an uncle, who I guess would accept to be Onetime Mike'due south brother, then information technology's curious Former Cherry never met him, just if she doesn't inquire that, why should I?

In high school, Young Mike once again becomes a basketball star, befriends Alex, and attempts to defend his Gothish daughter, Maggie (Michelle Trachtenberg), against the predations of her jerk boyfriend, who as a hot-rodding jock traveling with a posse is, of grade, the last guy in school who would date, or exist dated by, a moody daughter who wears black.

I've seen Trunk Switches earlier (Tom Hanks in "Big"). The outset human activity of this movie seemed all retread. So information technology started to dig in. In that location are twin romances; equally Shakespeare demonstrated, i must be serious and the other farcical. Young Mike is notwithstanding seriously in honey with his wife, Old Reddish, and she is powerfully attracted to this boy who'due south a double for her first love. She thinks that'southward wrong. He knows it isn't but how can he explain?

Meanwhile, best buddy Ned courts Main Masterson, who for the first time in his life has Taught Him What Beloved Ways. Before her, ecstasy was owning Darth Vader'southward costume. I volition not describe what happens the offset time they go out to dinner, except to say that it's comic genius, perfectly played by Melora Hardin and Thomas Lennon.

I attended a screening held by a radio station, which attracted mainly teenage girls who left their boyfriends backside. When Zac Efron took off his T-shirt, the iv in front of me squealed as if there were buzzers in their seats. Now that he'southward a piddling older, Efron has a Tom Cruiseish charm, and a lot of confidence. Why Matthew Perry was cast as his adult self is hard to figure; does your caput change its shape in xx years?

"17 Once again" is pleasant, harmless PG-13 entertainment, with a plot a piddling more surprising and acting a niggling meliorate than I expected. Mike is dispatched into that vortex past the bearded former janitor with a delighted grin. The janitor (Brian Doyle-Murray) is quite a convenience, supplying vortexes when needed. If his smile reminds you of anyone, he'southward played by Neb Murray's brother.