'17 Again' review

Zac Efron (Credit: New Line Cinema)

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Pessimistic jerks don't often have happy families. Exhibit A: Mike (Matthew Perry, terrible), a grump who's about to let a divorce separate him from the wife (Leslie Mann) he doesn't appreciate and the teenage kids he doesn't nurture. But when Mike tells a magic janitor (don't ask) he wishes he could return to the high school glory days, Mike reverts to the confident, 17-year-old basketball star version of himself (Zac Efron) for a change in perspective and a chance to bond with his kids during school hours.

The buzz: Following "High School Musical: Senior Year," the now 21-year-old Efron seems to be aging backward like some sort of real-life Benjamin Button. Aside from blatantly inverting the plot of "Big," "17 Again" gives the actor a non-musical chance to prove his star quality—while requiring him to learn the form of basketball in which teams don't constantly break into song.

The verdict: Sorry, Robert Pattinson fans: Efron is far and away Hollywood's most promising young actor, and his exceptional performance amusingly—and sometimes movingly—shows Mike's mind torn between two eras. The rest of "17 Again," aside from Mann providing her reliable, warmth-spiked skepticism, flounders like a fish on the dock. Here's a cliché about bullies and head cheerleaders, there's Mike's son accidentally setting his pants on fire, and there's Mike's adult best bud (Thomas Lennon) trying every dorky, embarrassing tactic to win the heart of the principal (Melora Hardin). Laughs missing; charm gone.

Did you know? A health teacher (Margaret Cho) claims that encouraging high school seniors to be abstinent "is like asking a porcupine to poop goat cheese." Bad news for conservative educators, good news for goat cheese fans.

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