17 Again
Review
by Anthony Morris
Age-swap movies come in various forms:
there's the ones where two people (usually parent and child) swap
bodies, the ones where someone old becomes young, the ones where
someone young becomes old (faster than the normal day-by-day deal), the
ones where the person growing older (or younger) is played by the same
actor in more (or less) make-up, and so on.
This kind of movie needs all those
variations because otherwise they're pretty much all the same: someone
thinks things would be better if they were different discovers that
things would really only be different. All of which is to the point
here because it pretty much every respect bar one 17 Again is a
completely typical example of the age-swap genre.
The story's simple: Zac Ephron was a high
school basketball star until the night of the big game when his
girlfriend's news that she was pregnant threw him off his game,
shuffled them off into marriage, and fifteen-odd years later he's
turned into matthew Perry, estranged from his two kids and staring down
the barrel of a deserved divorce because he won't stop whining about
how badly his life turned out.
Then a magical janitor turns him back into
Zac Ephron and he decides to use his second childhood to win his family
back. As you do in this kind of movie. Ephron is funny and charming,
the plot powers along, most of the jokes raise a smile at the very
least and the whole thing doesn't take itself too seriously, so this
would be yet another competent but forgettable entry into the age-swap
genre if not for one thing: Ephron's sex appeal.
Because he hasn't actually gone back in time
the only person he can legitimately hit on is his soon to be ex-wife -
and he does, which is a bit creepy. But when the film's only other
female character starts to fall for him - which in any other film would
make sense because hey, he's Zac Ephron - things gets a little too
creepy because it's his daughter.
Comedy sort of ensues, but still it's a
twist no-one demanded. And when a film has charcaters saying "this is a
bit weird", you know that, well, it's all a bit too weird.
3.5 out
of 5
17 Again
Australian release: 9th Apr, 2009
Official
Site: 17 Again
Cast: Matthew Perry, Zac Efron, Thomas Lennon, Katerina Graham
Director: Burr Steers
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