17 Again (2009)

About a guy whose life didn't quite turn out how he wanted it to and wishes he could go back to high school and change it. He wakes up one day and is seventeen again and gets the chance to rewrite his life.

Director:

Burr Steers

Writer:

Jason Filardi

Stars:

Zac Efron, Leslie Mann, Thomas Lennon

3 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Zac Efron	...	Mike O'Donnell
Leslie Mann	...	Scarlet
Thomas Lennon	...	Ned Gold
Matthew Perry	...	Mike O'Donnell (Adult)
Tyler Steelman	...	Ned Gold (Teen)
Allison Miller	...	Scarlet (Teen)
Sterling Knight	...	Alex
Michelle Trachtenberg	...	Maggie
Adam Gregory	...	Dom
Hunter Parrish	...	Stan
Mario Cassem	...	Samir
Kat Graham	...	Jamie (as Katerina Graham)
Tiya Sircar	...	Samantha
Melissa Ordway	...	Lauren
Melora Hardin	...	Principal Jane Masterson

Storyline

At 17 Mike O'Donnell is on top of the world: he's the star of his high school basketball team, is a shoo-in for a college scholarship, and is dating his soul-mate, Scarlet. But at what's supposed to be his big game where a college scout is checking him out, Scarlet reveals that she's pregnant. Mike decides to leave the game and asks Scarlet to marry him, which she does. During their marriage, Mike can only whine about the life he lost because he married her, so she throws him out. When he also loses his job, he returns to the only place he's happy at, his old high school. While looking at his high school photo, a janitor asks him if he wishes he could be 17 again and he says yes. One night while driving he sees the janitor on a bridge ready to jump, and goes after him. When he returns to his friend Ned's house, where he has been staying, he sees that he is 17 again. He decides to take this opportunity to get the life he lost.

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Plot Keywords:

high school | school | janitor | bridge | basketball | 

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Taglines:

Who says you're only young once?

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Fantasy | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for language, some sexual material and teen partying

Details

Official Sites:

New Line [us] Official site [fr]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 April 2009 (USA)

Also Known As:

Seventeen

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$20,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$23,722,310 (USA) (17 April 2009)

Gross:

$64,149,837 (USA) (31 July 2009)

Company Credits

Production Co:

New Line Cinema, Offspring Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

102 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Zac Efron called Matthew Perry for help on his lines and mimicking some of his movements to give a more authentic performance.

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Goofs

When Mike/Mark is shooting free-throws before the second big game there are seven balls on the rack including one on the top tier, after he talks to the coach there are only five with none on the rack and there hasn't been time or the sound of another shot.

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Quotes

Ned Freedman: You look like a douche.
Mike O'Donnell: I do not look like a *douche*.
Guy from School: [in background referring to Mike O'Donnell] What a douche.

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Crazy Credits

The closing credits include photos of most of the main cast and crew when they were actually 17-years-old.

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Connections

References The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

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Soundtracks

"On My Own"
Written by Vincent Vincent
Performed by Vincent Vincent and the Villains
Courtesy of EMI Records Ltd.
Under license from EMI Film & Television Music

User Reviews

We've all seen this movie before!

I'm starting to suspect that Hollywood no longer uses actual, human screenwriters to create their movies. After watching years of the same, recycled trash, I'm starting to think that they now use a screenplay-writing machine to do it.

This machine works very simply. A producer will enter the main character's name, one problem they are facing, and one 'gimmick' (an unusual plot twist often used as a selling point for the film), and hey presto! - out pops a completed, and entirely unoriginal screenplay. Such is the case for 17 Again.

Mike O'Donnell is a depressed suburban father (sounds familiar already, doesn't it?) whose wife is divorcing him, kids can't stand him, and who just got passed over for a promotion. As the movie progressed, it started to seem very, very familiar - a crippling combination of unoriginal jokes, stereotypical characters and recycled plot devices. My friends and I started to grin and sneeringly guess what was going to happen later in the film, and guess what: most of the time, we were right.

We've all seen this movie before - it's been pieced together from the discarded carcasses of films past, by a flock of vultures seemingly so unaccustomed to originality in film-making that they have been rendered unable to create any plot twist even slightly unexpected or interesting. And don't even get me started on Zac Efron's acting (or lack of such).

Two small good things. Out of the dozens of jokes thrown at us, a select few - maybe five - were genuinely hilarious. Other than that, though, the humor relied on the the faux-improvised, overly-awkward style of comedy popularized by Seth Rogen and co. It doesn't work here. The other highlight, of course, was Matthew Perry. He's the man, and an excellent comic actor, but his short on-screen time was not enough to salvage this unoriginal, unfunny, and worst of all boring attempt at light entertainment. Perhaps if the film had eliminated the dramatic aspects and stuck to being a comedy, it could have succeeded, but this is one movie I certainly would not want to see again.