17 Again : Movie Review


In "17 Again" Zac Efron plays first a 17-year-old and then a 37-year-old trapped in a 17-year-old's body. Efron is charmingly casual and unapologetically good-looking: There's no reason, outside of sheer mean-spiritedness, not to like him. He's not the movie's problem. The problem is that cute Zac Efron grows up to be doughy, OK-looking Matthew Perry, and we're still supposed to find him dreamy, as his wife -- played by Leslie Mann -- does. While it's true that in real life great-looking teenagers often grow up to be average-looking (and perfectly nice) adults, the whole point of a movie like "17 Again" is to give us a dose of fantasy. In movie terms, the Zac Efron/Matthew Perry dichotomy is a cruel bait and switch. There's something a little punishing about the way the movie practically snaps at us, "You don't expect youthful beauty to last forever, do you?"

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