Release Date: April 17, 2009
Rating: PG-13 (for language, some sexual material and teen partying)
Run Time: 102 min.
Director: Burr Steers
Actors: Zac Efron, Matthew Perry, Leslie Mann, Thomas Lennon, Sterling Knight, Michelle Trachtenberg. Melora Hardin, Allison Miller
Let’s face it: Much like last week’s box office champ Hannah Montana: The Movie, 17 Again is essentially critic-proof, considering the overwhelming popularity of its heartthrob leading man, Zac Efron (of High School Musical and Hairspray fame) with ‘tween and teen girls.
With a recycled premise and lukewarm life lessons, 17 Again is really nothing more than a good excuse to capitalize on Efron’s charm and hard work at the gym. But for movie fans not enamored with Efron’s good looks, there’s not much added incentive to buy a ticket, considering the seriously untapped potential in a premise that’s been played out in everything from Freaky Friday, to Big to 13 Going on 30.
It’s not that 17 Again is truly awful. Trust me, I’ve seen far worse comedies recently where I’ve laughed even less. But the sheer lack of creativity and imagination in the script doesn’t exactly make high school worth revisiting yet again.
One thing is for sure, though. The filmmakers don’t waste any time using Efron to work his target market. In the movie’s prologue, the year is 1989, and Efron is 17-year-old Mike O’Donnell, a varsity basketball stud (who prefers to practice shirtless, natch) on the verge of huge things career-wise. With a college scout in the crowd to impress and a championship that’s his for the taking, Mike is so excited about the big game that he even joins the cheerleaders for an impromptu dance number to Young MC’s “Bust a Move.”
Making him all the more likeable and endearing is how Mike reacts to news that ends up rocking his future in a major way. When his girlfriend Scarlett (Allison Miller) shows up during his pre-game warm-up and eventually reveals that she’s pregnant, he immediately drops the ball and leaves his hoop dreams behind to be with the girl he loves.
It’s a brave, chivalrous move, for sure, but isn’t it possible that Mike could’ve been a supportive future father and a hoops star? Does it really have to be one or the other?
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Teenagers today go to schools where promiscuity is the norm and abstinance is ridiculed. To find Zac Efron preaching abstinance had me flying higher than a kite. These are issues our teens encounter everyday. All the content in this movie is realistic. And because it's realistic, I can overlook it because it was necessary to prove the film's point, meaning valuing the life and family you already have before it's too late.
Zac was brilliant. He emotionally connected with everyone, and I didn't find the connection with Scarlet to be all that strange because he's playing her husband as a teenager. I could understand her panicking, but he knew both plot lines.
Every teenager should see this film, and hopefully their parents will watch it too for a conversation starter. "17 Again" should be used as a tool to help teens make the right moral choices. Sometimes we find Biblical gems in the strangest places.