17 Again

Film review from The Movie Snob

17 Again (B). The Borg Queen and I caught a matinee of this flick starring heartthrob-of-the-moment Zac Efron (Hairspray). I think Big is a much overrated movie, so I was not expecting much from this Big-in-reverse tale. Perhaps as a result, I rather enjoyed it. First we get the backstory: in 1989, Efron's character Mike O'Donnell passes up a chance to play college basketball to marry his (pregnant) high school sweetheart. Fast forward 19 years or so, and Mike (briefly played by Matthew Perry, The Whole Nine Yards) is an unhappy man, estranged from his two children and on the verge of divorce from the same high school sweetheart (now played by Leslia Mann, Knocked Up). An encounter with a mysterious old man soon turns Mike back into his high-school self. With assistance from his best friend (dork turned dorky software millionaire), Mike enrolls in high school and tries to figure out the purpose of his quest. It's no Citizen Kane, but I found it a pleasant diversion. I do feel bad for Melora Hardin (TV's The Office), stuck in yet another thankless big-screen role--this time as the school principal who is wooed by the hapless computer mogul).