17 Again

Armed with as irresistible a premise as one could envision, 17 Again generally sustains the viewer’s interest even through its few less-than-enthralling stretches – with Zac Efron’s tremendously appealing lead performance playing an instrumental role in the movie’s undeniable success. The film follows a depressive 37-year-old (Matthew Perry’s Mike O’Donnell) as his desire to re-do his teen years is granted after he encounters a mysterious figure (Brian Doyle-Murray), with the remainder of the proceedings revolving around his teenage self’s (Efron) efforts at shepherding his put-upon son (Sterling Knight’s Alex) and misguided daughter (Michelle Trachtenberg’s Maggie) through their tumultuous high school careers. There’s little doubt that 17 Again suffers from a fairly labored opening half hour that’s exacerbated by a pronounced emphasis on egregious instances of overt silliness, with such deficiencies epitomized by Mike’s friendship with Thomas Lennon’s almost unreasonably over-the-top Ned Gold (ie the character, a millionaire computer guru, sleeps in a Star Wars-inspired bed and engages in a sword fight with lightsabers). It’s not until Mike enrolls at his kids’ school that 17 Again begins to live up to the potential of its set-up, with the movie’s transformation into a surprisingly engaging comedy triggered by a fantastic sequence in which Efron’s character verbally humiliates a notorious bully for the amusement of the student body. The atmosphere of agreeable goofiness that ensues is perpetuated by the inclusion of several laugh-out-loud comedic misunderstandings and mixups, as Mike’s fish-out-of-water exploits are utilized to consistently hilarious effect by scripter Jason Filardi and director Burr Steers (with Mike’s ongoing efforts at stymieing his daughter’s newfound crush on him generating the movie’s most pronounced guffaws). The final result is a better-than-expected endeavor that benefits substantially from Efron’s effortlessly charismatic work, thus ensuring that 17 Again ultimately fits comfortably within the pantheon of above-average body-switching comedies.

*** out of ****