Ah , when a formula just works, just keep reworking it over and over again. 17 Again is by all accounts an average comedy film, of which the plot has been seen time and time again which asks the age old question of revisiting the past to correct the future. This film is comprised of elements from Back To The Future, Groundhog Day (sort of, its a similar theme of redemption), Teen Wolf (uh what?)and of course the classic Tom Hanks film Big, but in reverse. Put all these in a blender, and you get 17 Again. I’m not knocking it, its just that its frankly an average film with a very predictable story and the humor in the film yields few laughs. I did crack a few smiles though, and spent part of it reliving my own past because I too was 17 in 1989. Ah those clothes and music, but the hair styles weren’t accurate in the film!

The film tries to answer the question everyone goes through in life, what if I could go back and do it all over again? What if I chose the other path, where would I be now? Conveniently, and without much explanation why, Mike O’Donnell (played by Matthew Perry and Zac Efron) gets that chance. As a grown up, he doesn’t have much going on. An impending divorce, out of a job, teenage kids who don’t respect him, he’s a complete loser (I suppose like many of us). Back in high school he was the stud, the man, the king of the basketball court and impregnated the hottest girl in school. Whoops! There goes that free ride to college. So, this random old guy janitor basically pushes him off a bridge and he suddenly becomes his 17 year old self again. The movie goes on from there, you can just guess what’s going to happen next.

The film runs through its mildly entertaining situations where the now younger Mike meets his teenage children, his estranged wife and somehow wrangles his way back into high school using his best friend (the stereotypical former nerd who becomes a millionaire) as his father. There is the natural awkwardness of trying to fit into a modern day teenager mentality when one has no clue how to go about it, his initial choice of clothing is hilariously stupid. Eventually he becomes Mr. popular again, wooing the ladies and at one point even his daughter mistakenly tries to put the moves on him. Naturally, because he is really 37 he ends up lecturing everyone like a dad would in health class. He is determined to make up for his past, only to discover that his true mission is to guide his kids and win back his wife, surprise surprise. The casting for the film is pretty decent, Matthew Perry is playing himself really, with Zac Efron mimicking his mannerisms quite well. Zac did all the hard work on this picture. One standout is Thomas Lennon, who could be mistaken for Rob Schneider, as his nerdy friend Ned. He is quite the scene stealer, especially when him and Principle Masterson (Melora Hardin) discover their love of Tolkien and start conversing in Elvish. That was probably the funniest moment of the movie and its just a side plot. He has a kickass house that any nerd or geek would love by the way.

I guess its just my generations turn to start pumping out nostalgic films about the 80’s, this certainly isn’t the first or the last. OK sorta about the 80’s, but not really. Never mind. I do know that on Blu-ray this is quite the nice looking film, although most likely there isn’t much difference with the DVD in terms of image quality. An epic film this is not, but it does feature a couple of extra bells and whistles that the DVD does not have, although not by much. Most of the stuff is typically pedestrian, no surprises. I am a bit disappointed that Zac’s Dance Flashback does not actually show any footage! They got through this whole thing showing preparations for it, then it was cut from the film. Was this not even shot on camera? Lame. For the rest of the features, one must venture online via Bd-Live, no easy task mind you. Why would one put a commentary track on BD-Live? What there wasn’t enough room because the disc is crammed with trailers?

So there it is, another typical film that will end up on endless TBS reruns in the next few years. Yeah, it has some moments but this film will not go down as a classic.

== Dvd-Dweeb.com ==

== www.dvd-dweeb.com ==

Zac Efron breaks free of his High School Musical legacy with 17 Again, leading a pack of fine comic actors in a body-switching comedy that freshens the genre with good ideas. Efron plays Mike, a high-school basketball star who blows a college scholarship in 1989 to marry his sweetheart. Cut to 2009, and late-30s Mike (Matthew Perry) is a sour guy passed over for a promotion and feeling estranged from that wife, Scarlett (Leslie Mann), and teen kids (Michelle Trachtenberg, Sterling Knight). Magical intervention causes Mike to turn 17 once more--albeit in the present--and tackle his failures with a fresh start. As the hot new kid in his children's high school, Mike proves a better father to them as their peer than as a man, while Scarlett sees in him everything that attracted her to her husband two decades before. Writer Jason Filardi and director Burr Steers demonstrate an imaginative and supple wit in such half-expected scenes as Mike's confrontations with a school bully and his unsuspecting daughter's flirtations with him. But it's Efron who carries some truly delicate moments and proves to be genuinely sympathetic when emotions get thick and heavy. Thomas Lennon is also entertaining as a wealthy Star Wars nerd who pretends to be Mike's father, but his slightly excessive screen time suggests the filmmakers weren't entirely sure Efron could do what needed to be done. If so, they were mistaken. --Tom Keogh