17 Again

Pleasant, though unremarkable romantic comedy about a dissatisfied middle-aged man (Matthew Perry) who gets his wish to be a high school student (Zac Efron) again and, with the help of his lifelong best friend (Thomas Lennon), uses the opportunity to guide his teenage son (Sterling Knight) and daughter (Michelle Trachtenberg) and to revive his failing relationship with his wife (Leslie Mann). Director Burr Steers’ formulaic star vehicle sees its protagonist standing up for the underdog and promoting sexual restraint but thematic elements preclude younger teens. Premarital situations, some sexual humor and references, about a dozen crass terms, at least one use of profanity. A-III -- adults. (PG-13) 2009

17 Again (Full Review)

 With its flashbacks set in 1989, “17 Again” (New Line), a pleasant though unremarkable romantic comedy, comes alarmingly close to qualifying as 1990s nostalgia. This sobering thought is only underlined by the fact that the character whose mid-life dissatisfaction sets the fanciful plot in motion is played by former teen idol Matthew Perry.

Perry is down-on-his-luck pharmaceuticals salesman Mike O’Donnell. With both his marriage to high school sweetheart Scarlet (Leslie Mann) and his career on the rocks, Mike yearns for the glory days when he was headed for a college basketball scholarship and a glimmering future, a trajectory derailed by Scarlet’s unplanned pregnancy during their senior year.

Tumbling off a bridge (shades of “It’s A Wonderful Life”) and into a computer-generated whirlpool, Mike gets his wish, returning to the present as his teenage self (now Zac Efron).

  This transformation understandably alarms his lifelong best friend Ned (Thomas Lennon), once the class nerd but now a rich eccentric with whom Mike rooms since the split with Scarlet. But Mike eventually convinces him to pose as his father so Mike can enroll at his alma mater, attended by his teenage son Alex (Sterling Knight) and daughter Maggie (Michelle Trachtenberg).

Amid the predictable complications, Mike makes an eloquent plea for teen sexual restraint, even as his Health teacher ridicules the school’s official policy of abstinence and circulates a basket of condoms.

As scripted by screenwriter Jason Filardi, this formulaic star vehicle, directed with brisk efficiency by Burr Steers, sees Mike standing up for the underdog across generations – first Ned during his nerdy period, then his bullied boy Alex – and sacrificing his future to make things right with Scarlet. There are also lessons about counting your blessings and the hard work involved in being a good parent and sustaining a successful marriage.

But mature themes and sexual jokes preclude younger teens. It’s certainly not suitable for the shrieking tweens whom Efron made delirious via Disney’s “High School Musical” franchise. While an opening day screening was chock-a-block with such youthful devotees, at least some of the mothers who’d brought them were scrambling, as they exited, to turn the movie into a teachable moment.

Movies have been evaluated by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishop's Office for Film and Broadcasting according to artistic merit and moral suitability. The reviews include the USCCB rating, the Motion Picture Association of America rating, and a brief synopsis of the movie.

The classifications are as follows:

• A-I -- general patronage;
• A-II -- adults and adolescents;
• A-III -- adults;
• A-IV**
• L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. L replaces the previous classification, A-IV.
• O -- morally offensive.