Movie Review: 17 Again

This is one of those movies that I knew would see at some point but was in no hurry to run to the theater. It's another in a long line of "do over" movies, which, with the exception of "Big" and "13 Going on 30", if you've seen one, you've seen them all. Of course, the same could be said about most rom coms too but I still keep watching those.

Matthew Perry is the bitter grown up who is convinced that if he could go back to one fateful day in high school and do it differently, his life would be so much better. He gets that chance of course, thanks to a magical janitor. Zac Efron plays the high school version of him. I'm too old to have jumped on the Zac Efron/"High School Musical" bandwagon and I haven't seen him in anything. I was pleasantly surprised, however, with his performance. He's a sweet kid and I could see the "adult" version of him trying to come through at times. He had a few mannerisms and way of carrying himself that you just don't see in teens.

He reverts to being a teen but in the present. As a teen, he hangs out with his son and daughter and gets to overhear his wife talking about their impending divorce. What he has to figure out is, is he there to change his life or his children's?

This movie is rated PG-13 because of frisky teenage themes. There is a teenage pregnancy, talk of birth control as the school hands out condoms, teens making out. The language isn't bad though so it was a nice change of pace. It was a good, sweet movie that you could watch with your teenage kids. (****)