So what is a forty-something, straight, movie loving male doing giving a Zac Efron movie 3 ½ stars? Two words: Thomas Lennon. Don’t get me wrong, it was a fairly decent twist to the adult/teen switch story. I can’t say any of the acting was terrible, although Michelle Trachtenberg definitely phoned it in. And I liked the sub-plot of the father helping his son thing too, and Sterling Knight, who played the son, was actually pretty good.

I know, I know, I really can’t believe I actually liked this movie either, but I did. Thomas Lennon, who played the nerdy-kid-who-grew-up-to-be-a-rich-techno-geek, stole every scene. And ok, maybe I am quite the geek myself because his house (filmed on location at George Lucas’ actual place) was incredible, filled with movie memorabilia, and a bed made out of a landspeeder! How cool is that?!?!

Anyway, back to the movie…

No huge surprises here, nothing earth shattering, just a fun enjoyable family movie. This was the first time I have seen Zac Efron in a movie, and I can’t say the kid can’t act. He’s got the look, he’s got the walk, he’s got the attitude, and he has decent comedic timing, not that I am about to go rent all 3 High School Musical movies or anything, but he does get a passing grade.

If the movie had been filled with just a few less stereotypes, had just a little less creepy 17 year old/middle age woman romance thing going on, and maybe a little more Thomas Lennon, it would have popped up to the 4 star category. But these days, we live with what we get. So, if you are on a date with a nice girl (or guy), or want to take your not too young kids to a funny family type movie, I would recommend 17 Again.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 16th, 2009 at 9:34 pm and is filed under 3.5, Aceman, Film Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.