“17 Again” is a story of Mike O’Donnell, played by Matthew Perry (you may know him better as “Chandler” on Friends), a man wanting a re-do of his teenage years. Zac Efron (famous for High School Musical, of course) plays Mike as a teenager. Ironically, the opening scene is Mike, a senior in high school, starring in a basketball game.
At first, annoyed by the similarity to High School Musical, I didn’t want to watch the movie. I was hoping to see Efron in a new light, and not as a high school jock anymore. But during the rest of the movie, he acts his part of being a 30-year-old in an 18-year-old, very impressively, and proves to be a very good actor.
Luckily, after getting past the first scene, the story gets more complicated, and a lot deeper. Mike gives up his dream of going to college on a scholarship after finding that his girlfriend is pregnant. Then we jump forward 20 years. Mike’s marriage has fallen apart, and his wife (Leslie Mann) kicks him out because all he does is complain about how he gave up his dream for her. He lives with his best friend since high school, Ned (Thomas Lennon) who is a rich computer software nerd. Mike has two children, Maggie (Michelle Trachtenberg) and Alex (Sterling Knight), who are both high schoolers and want nothing to do with their father. All Mike wants now is a do-over; his life is miserable.
While visiting his old high school, a janitor comes up and offers him the chance to do just that. Mike wakes up young again, but still in the same time.
The rest of the movie follows Mike, but instead of living out his high school dream, he now sees his children need help. Being in the same school as them lets him know a side of the kids he didn’t know before. He becomes friends with his son and mentors him in basketball, and regulates his daughter’s relationship with her sleazy boyfriend.
Honestly, I thought this movie was very thoughtful, not to mention hilarious. There were multiple awkward moments, including Mike flirting with his ex-wife in his teenage body (his son sure didn’t like his friend making eyes at mom), and his daughter attempting to kiss him as a teenager, then thinking he was gay after he rejected her. Also, a side story was Ned’s flirting with the high school principal, which with his geeky attitude made me laugh out loud multiple times.
Overall, definitely worth watching, maybe even worth purchasing. It’s an enjoyable movie to all, whether you’re in on the Zac Efron craze, don’t like him, are older, younger, a teen, you name it.  It’s especially nice to see Zac Efron as someone other than Troy Bolton from High School Musical. (And it does add to the viewing pleasure, that he’s certainly good-looking. Come on, had to throw that in there.)