Reviews
Starring - Zac Efron, Matthew Perry, Leslie Mann & Michelle Trachtenberg.
If I'm honest the only reason I watched this flick was so that I could hate it later, and on that score it was quite disappointing, because I hated it all the way through and forgot about it later.
Omnipresent Man-Boy Zac Efron [hence forth to be referred to as Zkefron] stars in a comedy so by the numbers it would make Dewey cry real tears of joy. Here Zkefron plays the younger version of Matthew Perry's "Mike" [in the film for about 10 minutes, total] as he pisses about being awesome in a modern day school, trying to keep an eye on his kids and blah blah bling blah.
The first thing that bothered me about this movie happened almost immediately. We open on a shot of Zzzkeferonz character "Mike" [bra-fucking-vo] playing his well toned bollocks off in a game of basketball circa 1987. Right off the bat there's a problem. The only way to tell that this scene is happening 22 years ago is because the date pops up on the screen, like that paperclip in MS Word, squealing the time period at you. Apart from that, there's precious little 80's going on here. The cheerleaders are dancing funky hip hop jives ala "Bring It On" and several of them are black, proving that every single form of institutionalised racism in America had been eradicated by 1986. They don't even bother to put the background spectators in especially 80's clothes... but then how would you tell? If a man was frozen in 1986, say on his way to watch Transformers: The Movie, and woke up in modern day America what about his surroundings would clue him in to that fact that he'd been coma'd up for the best part of two decades?
The clothes? No... because 80's are in. The hair? No... because 80's are in.
I think eventually someone with an iPhone would run up to him and start bleating on about it's gadgetery, giving our time tossed California Man the wake up call to the present he so richly requires.
Flash forward to Matthew Perry leaving his performance as Mike on an answering machine. Here is the typical failure, having given up his glory dreams of a basketball scholarship [free school for being good at sports... yeah, America really has it's head screwed on] to raise the bastard child he and his girlfriend ill-conceived way back when. Now his kids hate him, he's getting a divorce from Leslie Mann [her from all the Judd Apatow movies] and the chances of a Friends reunion show are getting slimmer as he ... well ... doesn't.
One day he comes across the Mayor of Punxsutawney [look it up!] dressed like a down and out Captain Birdseye, who says a few cryptic things and leaps to his doom off a bridge, following which Chandler gets sucked into some CGI and comes out the other end as Zzzzkfrn, Boy Wonder. Realising he can try to sort his life and relive all the past triumphs he sets off to school, along with his "Nerdy" best friend who is a Deus Ex Machine millionaire.
"Oh, how will he get the perfect car and clothes and hair cut for a modern day school?"
"Rich best friend. Done. Right... lunch?"
There's a bit of sublot as Rich Uncle Poindexter tries to boff the principal, but you came to see Zzzazzkaforn without his shirt on and so that happens quite often. Box ticked.
This movie is exactly what you thought it was going to be when you saw the trailer. Zac "Fit Jesus" Efron actually isn't bad in it to be fair to him, but Matthew Perry isn't on screen long enough for you to get a feel for the character as an adult, so when he goes young there's no sense of inner-age and angst. Perry becomes Efron and then back again at the end. For better results see Freaky Friday with Jodie Foster [not the Lohan/Lee Curtis version, which is bobbins].
I'm not doing a ratings system, but this scores poorly anyway for being unoriginal, sloppily written and apart from some good bits out of Trachtenberg and the odd Efron nugget is badly acted to boot. If you're 11 and the very idea of Z.E even doing up his shoes makes you age 7 years and by a rubber tongue then get this movie. Anyone else, do some other thing.
17 Again - Brought to you by Gazz Wood -