Movie Reviews

Chuck Zlotnick/Warner Bros. Entertainment

Review in a Hurry: Afraid that pubescent shrieking and swooning will drown out critical plot points of this zany body-swap flick? No worries! 17 Again is essentially a flipbook of Zac Efron pictures with some sound thrown over it.

The Bigger Picture: Zac Efron is violently pretty. To witness this magnificently structured specimen engage in the most mundane activity—tossing his honey-colored hair out of his flirty eyes, reciting dull dialogue in an insipid comedy—is absorbing.

But let's be clear: If it weren't for Efron's freakishly good looks, there'd be few good reasons to face the screen while 17 Again is playing.

The plot is a total afterthought to the star's abs, but let's get into it, for kicks: A magical janitor is about to leap off a bridge. Mike (Matthew Perry as older, bloated Efron), a sad man-child, estranged husband and distant dad, rushes to save the suicidal custodian.

Just as Mike reaches out—the janitor vanishes! I know! So zany! So Mike falls, and as he plummets, he's given the opportunity to make different "life choices" by, you guessed it, being transformed into his 17-year-old self. The movie then becomes 2K9 Marty McFly: Mike tries to change the course of destiny but instead he changes—you ready?—himself.

As if the janitor-cum-spirit-animal gimmick wasn't bizarre enough, the movie gets downright surreal when Efron, perhaps the most famous young star of the moment, tries to act like an ordinary teenage boy. But he seems incapable of spontaneity, as static as the magazine foldouts he's immortalized in. Perhaps then, 17 Again is some high-concept critique on child fame dressed up as throwaway fluff? But I doubt it.

The 180—a Second Opinion: Efron's jeans are tighter than sausage casings.