Surprisingly good (17 Again (DVD))

Member Name: shaneo632

Product:	17 Again (DVD)
Date:	04/10/09 (10 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Efron's charm

Disadvantages: Cute and sentimental

I firmly expected 17 Again to be a lifeless and vacuous comedy film, thanks largely due to its star Zac Efron, whom I frequently associate with the tawdry High School Musical series. Efron, however, has a lot more going for him than I originally expected - he's frequently touted as the "next DiCaprio", and given the charm he espouses here, when free of the cutesy Disney image, he may very well be just that.

The film opens in 1989, as Mike O'Donnell (Efron) is a popular high school student with a burgeoning basketball career. However, when his girlfriend Scarlet Porter (Allison Miller) tells him that she's pregnant, he puts his career on the backburner and proposes to her. We then cut to almost 20 years later, where Mike's (Matthew Perry) life is pretty much in the toilet - Scarlet (Leslie Mann) has left him, and his kids Maggie (Michelle Trachtenberg) and Alex (Sterling Knight) can't really be bothered with him at all.

However, when Mike encounters a janitor (Brian Doyle-Murray), he also discovers a vortex which he falls into, causing him to return to his 17-year-old self. It's a concept similar to what we've seen before in Freaky Friday, where our protagonist is now able to get in touch with their inner youth, and the question then becomes whether this is the preferred way to live.

It doesn't dabble in heady concepts, but it certainly will appeal to fans of Efron, and he's pretty charming throughout, one must admit. It DOES, however, expectedly mire itself in sentimentality, but it's mostly genial and genuine, so it doesn't feel too manipulative in any way. What the film does best is establish that Efron actually has acting talent, and may well have a future for himself outside of cute Disney films and wholesome tween pictures.

Summary: A fun if fluffy film