17 Again review

For those who questioned whether Zac Efron would be able to graduate from his role of Troy Bolton in High School Musical, 17 Again provides the answer. Efron has a winning charm that makes this lightweight comedy more engaging than it deserves to be and bodes well for his future outside of East High.

Using a familiar premise of a central character who gets to revisit their life in a different guise to appreciate what they've got, 17 Again wins few points for originality, echoing as it does films like Big and 13 Going On 30, with an homage to It's a Wonderful Life thrown in. But it is a premise that resonates with those over 30 who haven't at some point wondered what they would have done differently were they to go back in time.

In this instance it's about a middle-aged man Mike O'Donnell (Matthew Perry) whose life has not fulfilled his youthful promise when he was the high school basketball star. For 20 years his frustration has been taken out on his wife Scarlett (Leslie Mann) whose teenage pregnancy he blamed for the way his life turned out. At an all-time low, staying at the home of his best buddy, the nerdy but wealthy Ned (Thomas Lennon), Mike dreams of his glory days at high school. Following an encounter with a mysterious figure, Mike becomes 17 again (at which point he's played by Zac Efron).

Enrolling under a different name and posing as the illegitimate son of Ned, Mike finds himself back at his old high school. If that isn't strange enough, he befriends his son Alex (Sterling Knight) and daughter Maggie (Michelle Trachtenberg), who are fellow students, and his wife, none of who are aware of his true identity, although Scarlett is struck by his uncanny resemblance to her childhood sweetheart.

Aimed squarely at the legions of adoring Efron fans, 17 Again is a perfect vehicle to showcase both his ready smile and wholesome good looks. Sights of a shirtless Efron, or looking ultra cool in leather jacket and shades, bring gasps and swoons from the audience of young girls. But when called upon, he is also able to show he can strike an emotional chord as well as a visceral one. He shares some touching scenes with Leslie Mann and elsewhere is able to convey the maturity of the elder Mike trapped within his youthful exterior.

Providing the film with its comic relief is the over-the-top Ned, played with a droll flamboyance by Lennon. A comic book and fantasy nerd, Ned's extravagant attempts to woo the school principle (Melora Hardin) weave a humorous thread through the film's more tender story of Mike rediscovering how important his family truly is.

It will be interesting to see if life imitates art and in 20 year's time Efron will be looking back at these as his halcyon days and wondering where it all went wrong. Somehow, based on this evidence, I doubt it.

Kevin Murphy