I'd watch it Again! (17 Again (DVD))

Member Name: mummy2harry

Product:	17 Again (DVD)
Date:	24/10/09 (82 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Funny, good cast, well written story, good pace

Disadvantages: Nothing amazingly new

Mike O'Donnell's life was going well as a teenager - he was a talented basketball player and was all set to win a scholarship to college. His plans came to an abrupt hold when his girlfriend delivered the news on the night of the biggest game of his life that she was pregnant with his baby, and Mike decides to the right thing by her. Fast-forward 20 years and Mike is stuck in a dead-end job, not getting promoted and his relationship with his new-wife Scarlett is down the pan with the pair going through a divorce. One night in a torrential downpour, Mike stops as he sees a man about to jump off a bridge. Mike slips and falls himself in a whirlpool and wakes up as 17 year old Mike again. He sees it as his chance to live life again but he doesn't bank on being at the same school as his kids and finding that Scarlett doesn't return the affections of a 17 year old boy. Will Mike be stuck at 17 forever, or will he be able to win Scarlett back once and for all?

When I got this out of the library to watch, I wasn't too sure how much I was going to enjoy it. I've not seen any of the High School Musical film so I've never seen Zac Efron in anything and therefore was unaware of what sort of actor he was going to be! I love Matthew Perry and think he has definitely been underused since the end of 'Friends' so I was looking forward to seeing him in a comedy role again, although it was only going to be a fairly small part. I decided to watch it whilst doing the ironing but it didn't take long for that to stop and for me to sit down and enjoy this light-hearted yet great film!

We've seen the adult-to-child thing done many times in films: Big, 13 Going On 30 and plenty more too, so I was curious to see how this film would make a stamp on a well-done genre in Hollywood. A film like this obviously expects you to suspend your beliefs for a while, but that wasn't a problem for me because I was quite engrossed pretty quickly with this film. Matthew Perry kicks it off as the fed-up adult Mike, and I loved his performance right away. He looks the part of downtrodden dad, and manages to bring comedy into a pretty bad situation. He's a natural actor and easy to watch on-screen, I just wish there was more of him really!

Despite my initial misgivings, I have to say that Zac Efron was actually pretty good in this movie! The first scene we see him in where he first sees himself as a 17 year old is hilarious, and he and co-star Thomas Lennon who plays Mike's flatmate Ned was brilliant and had me laughing out loud. The pair gave everything to the scene and the music, comedy timing and acting just created a really funny opening scene to draw people in. Efron delivers the cock-sure teen performance perfectly, yet was very watchable and endearing. He does the softer to Mike well too, and you can believe he's a 30-something trapped in a teens body which I think was half the battle here.

The comedy was present throughout and definitely had me laughing a lot more than I expected. A lot of it was based on him still acting like a dad despite the fact he was meant to be 17 and it really worked well. The younger cast members Michelle Trachtenberg and Sterling Knight as Mike's kids were great, and worked well with Efron - Trachtenberg and Efron had one very funny scene together and were very convincing I was sitting there cringing! Leslie Mann is also good as Scarlett O'Donnell and was able to deliver a bit of comedy of her own.

The story is of course unrealistic but you don't go into watching something like this without knowing that. I think that the writers have done a good job in making it slightly different to the other adult-to-kid movies out there, but really it isn't anything ground-breaking or particularly new. I enjoyed the pace of it and felt they covered all bases without bogging the film down too much. The cast clearly enjoyed themselves making this and it comes across in their performances. It was very fun to watch and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Young girls with love it because of Efron but it's a good watch for anyone - it's funny, light-hearted and got a good message inside it that warms your heart. Recommended.

Director: Burr Steers
Writer: Jason Filardi
Running Time: 102 minutes
Certificate: 12

Main Cast:
Zac Efron ... Mike O'Donnell (Teen)
Leslie Mann ... Scarlett O'Donnell (Adult)
Thomas Lennon ... Ned Gold
Matthew Perry ... Mike O'Donnell (Adult)
Tyler Steelman ... Ned Gold (Teen)
Allison Miller ... Scarlett (Teen)
Sterling Knight ... Alex O'Donnell
Michelle Trachtenberg ... Maggie O'Donnell

Thank you for reading.

Summary: A rather good comedy movie