17 Again
It’s time for my first movie-of-the-month, and it wouldn’t be a Spencer movie blog without being a time travel or romantic flick. Recently Izzy and I were itching to re-watch the movie 17 Again, so we pulled it off the DVD shelf and threw it on.
But Spencer, hold on, 17 Again isn’t a time travel movie!
Oh, contraire.
This fulfills the requirement in a couple of ways, the first being, as Tony Stark would put it:
“Very tricky, in this case you weren’t pushing Mike O’Donnell through time, you were actually pushing time through Mike O’Donnell.”
Bit silly but it works.
I’m a big sap, and while I don’t think I saw this in theaters I definitely wanted to because of really the whole premise. I’m happy to say the movie has held up well and I think there are a few reasons for that.
- The Cast
17 Again is as well casted as they come. Zac Efron is center stage, obviously, but we should remember that this was actually a stepping stone in his career, from Hairspray and High School Musical to bigger roles. Some other huge shout outs are Matthew Perry (aka Chandler Bing from Friends) who fabulously portrays old Mike O’Donnell, Leslie Mann who portrays Mike’s wife Scarlett, and Thomas Lennon who plays Mike’s best friend Ned.
(Also Jim Gaffigan is in this, and it’s basically just playing Jim Gaffigan is a basketball coach, but somehow it works)
The chemistry between these powerhouse actors is so immediate and crazy to me even now. Zac Efron worked really hard to portray Matthew Perry and he did it so well it’s hard even to notice all the quirks he carries over. While the portal scene and morning after could have been a rough transition (looking at you SHAZAM!), it was carried essentially as seamless as you can get in my book.
2. The Writing and Premise
(Time-travel nerds I am heading into the weeds not to worry.)
The movie is so enjoyable and uses references and callbacks to the letter. I did not realize until this watch just how many references there are. Lennon and Efron’s lightsaber fight is an obvious one but still worth re-mentioning, but some other ones I noticed are the Back to the Future scene, many Lord of the Rings references, and It’s a Wonderful Life.
Time to walk in the weeds. I love how this movie so casually handles time travel. The table scene after the lightsaber fight is a huge favorite of mine because in a way I feel I’d do the same thing.
“Are you now, or have you ever been, a norse god, vampire, or time traveling cyborg?”
“I’ve known you since like, maybe first grade I think MAYBE I would have told you!”
“Vampire wouldn’t tell. Cyborg wouldn’t know.”
“Just shut up.”
So it’s, as Ned puts it, it’s classic “Spirit Guide Transformation Magic.” The spirit guide or angel character as it were, gives Mike a glimpse of trying it all over again, but instead of taking him back through time to try life again (that’d be weird, would he have the kids again or not? He’d have to, right? Why am I writing this in here?), he puts time through Mike as it were, and transforms Mike into his 17-year-old self, but still in modern day so that he can mend relationships with his family. This movie does what I would say The Time Traveler’s Wife struggled with for me in that 17 Again didn’t go so heavy-handed with the premise. Some of the best time travel/reversal movies are good because they don’t stick too much with the physics or logic and focus more on the story (i.e., an Avengers: Endgame). Which brings me to my final point of how 17 Again holds up.
3. The ‘Realness’ of It
What a terrible phrase to use but I can’t put it better. The director Burr Steers (who also did Charlie St. Cloud immediately after this which makes a lot of sense) emphasized how much he wanted the scenes to feel real and genuine and, I think they hit that mark. Leslie Mann and Matthew Perry in their first scene in the yard to the jump later in the movie where it’s Mann and Zac Efron just work so well for me. The basketball training montage is fun and not overdone. What really sells everything is the entire court room scene.
Efron’s tears and acting is nothing short of amazing here. And it’s followed up so well by Matthew Perry bringing it home post-transforming back at the end of the movie.
This movie is a teen comedy but it’s also a drama, body-swap, and at brief moments a strange High School Musical afterthought. It’s got some scenes that are cringe-worthy, and the content isn’t for all ages, but overall fun from start to finish. I love this movie.
Rating: 7/10
Time-Travel: 6/10 (because of the table scene)
