Review: ’17 Again’

A lot can be said for sweet and wholesome.   Take ’17 Again,’ the latest family-friendly, body-swap comedy starring Zac Efron.   Sure, this type of premise should have its own genre status, and there is very little in the way of originality when it comes to story.

Man hates his life.   Man wishes he could go back to his youth.   Man runs into magical, mystery man.   Man gets transported back to his youth so he can relive it all differently.   Man realizes his life wasn’t that bad off in the first place.

There are differences here and there between these films, and nothing is ever going to top films like ‘Freaky Friday’ or ‘Big,’ but, as I said, sweet and wholesome go a long way.   That’s the most interesting thing about ’17 Again,’ a film that, on paper, sounds like a first-ballot candidate for Worst Film of the Year.   It actually finds its way through the meandering, surface-level premise and it turns itself into a genuinely respectable film.   It’s the cinematic equivalent of the star quarterback who you know will have an extremely bright future despite the emptiness between his ears.

Efron stars as high school senior Mike O’Donnell.   At the instance his life is about to launch itself, he gives up everything to spend it with his pregnant, high school sweetheart.   Jump forward 20 years where Mike is miserable, he is going through a divorce, and he looks like Matthew Perry.   Cue the magical, mystery man, played by Brian Doyle-Murray, who sends Mike back into the body of his former self.

’17 Again’ is directed by Burr Steers, who, up until now (and probably from here until eternity), was most famous for being the guy on the couch in the Ezekial 25:17 scene in ‘Pulp Fiction.’   That doesn’t offer anything to this review.   I just found it interesting.

Steers doesn’t offer any ingenuity into the making of this film.   This is pretty standard point-and-shoot filmmaking, but you don’t want a flashy auteur to make a movie like ’17 Again.’

There are genuine moments of hilarity in ’17 Again.’   Anything involving actor Thomas Lennon, who plays Nid, Mike’s geeky best friend, is comedy gold.   Ned is the type of person who would rather spend $1000 on an authentic Gandalf the White staff from ‘The Two Towers’ than learn how to pick up women the civilized way.   Imagine the comedy that derives from Ned falling head over heels in love with the principal of the school Mike enters himself into.

Lennon plays the role with absolute enthusiasm, and Steers knows how funny this actor is playing this character.   We get the perfect amount of Ned in the film, scattered just enough so as not to overshadow the main storyline but never allowing you to forget about him.

Thankfully, Perry is not the star here.   Any scene he is in is excruciatingly awful, and it’s a chore just to make it through.   Luckily, this Efron’s film, and, say what you will about the kid, he’s going to be a star whether we like it or not.   This isn’t a bad thing, as the kid is a halfway decent actor. In ’17 Again,’ he pulls off a dead-on impression of Perry, but never allows that aspect of his role take over.   He can be funny when the film calls for that, and he can turn on the drama when that is called for, as well.   If Efron is able to distance himself from his ‘High School Musical’ persona, he will definitely be making a name for himself very soon.

’17 Again’ is predictable, flagrantly so more often than not.   It’s a film whose initial concept should probably have been scrapped long before the execution stage.   However, in the end, it pulls it out at the last minute and makes something of itself.   It’s not a serious contender for anything other than a Kid’s Choice Award, and it will surely be forgotten roughly ten minutes after you leave the theater, but when it comes to family-friendly films, there are a lot worse candidate out there than ’17 Again.’   In the end, the mere shock that the film is any good at all raises its stakes just that much higher.

Overall: 3.5 stars out of 5