But the set-up, lazy or not, does fuel the rest of the story. Now some 20 years later, Mike (now played by Matthew Perry, who apparently has gone to the Vince Vaughn "school of looking haggered") isn’t the same, happy-go-lucky chap of days passed. Stuck in a dead-end job of selling pharmaceutical products where even the newbie college grads are getting promoted over him, his marriage to Scarlett (now played by Leslie Mann) is also on the rocks because he can’t stop living in the past. And if that wasn’t enough discouraging news, his teenage kids Alex (Sterling Knight) and Maggie (Michelle Trachtenberg) aren’t exactly his biggest fans either.

Wanting nothing more than to return to his glory days, Mike visits his old stomping grounds, admiring the younger version of himself in the trophy case when fate, in the form of a janitor who looks remarkably like Clarence from It’s a Wonderful Life, intervenes. Posed with the question— “Wouldn’t you like to do it all over again?” Mike is magically transported to a bridge, where he attempts to save the janitor from drowning (hmm, where have we seen that before?). Once Mike has successfully escaped from a watery death and has wiped off his muddy shoes, he discovers that (gasp!) he’s gotten his wish.

So what will Mike do now that he’s gotten a second chance at being 17? Well, aside from showing off those dribbling skills, it’s pretty easy to guess once Mike (Efron again) discovers that Alex is routinely duct-taped to the toilet by bullies and Maggie is planning on ditching her Georgetown college plans to shack up with the school’s requisite troublemaker instead.

In fact, the only moments that don’t fall prey to clichés or nods to Back to the Future with awkward run-ins with his daughter, who’s now a peer, and his suddenly much-older wife, don’t even involve Mike at all. Thankfully, Mike’s got a weirdo pal named Ned (Thomas Lennon) who prevents the movie from being a complete comedic bust. In an inspired bit of casting, Lennon shines as the geeky man-boy with an apartment full of Star Wars and Lord of the Rings memorabilia who happily poses as Mike’s father so he can enroll in high school. Quickly developing a mad crush on the school’s uptight principal (played perfectly by Melora Hardin from TV’s The Office), there’s nothing Ned won’t do to impress her, even if it’s speaking Elvish a la Lord of the Rings.

Unfortunately, the rest of the flick lacks that same verve—comedic or otherwise. While it gives Efron an opportunity to flex his muscles in a non-musical arena, the shoddy writing and plotting doesn’t do him many favors, meaning the jury is still out on whether he’ll successfully make the transition from teen heartthrob to leading man. But in the meantime, it provides the girls with yet another chance to swoon.
 
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