Latest screening: 17 Again

I admit this is i bit off track from the films i usually post reviews of (and i've been meaning to do one of Wendy And Lucy all week which i'll try to get to next week, along with Anvil which i'm finally seeing tonight hopefully) but it was such a surprise that i feel i have to. I hadn't intended to even watch this and i've mercilessly mocked the trailer ("You look just like my husband!" "no, he f***ing doesn't") but see it i did and well, damn it i enjoyed the hell out of it.

Now let's not be too generous. There is nothing, and i mean nothing, original in this latest take on a plot device familiar to anyone that has seen 18 Again, Big, Vice Versa, Like Father Like Son, either version of Freaky Friday and no doubt many others i'm forgetting. It also has the requisite geeky best friend that is as much a mainstay of a male-lead movie like this as the gay best friend is to a female-lead one! And of course it seems impossible to ignore the fact that Zac Efron could only look less like Matthew Perry (the adult version of him) if he was blonde!

Yet this film is made with panache. The script is genuinely funny. The lead cast fire on all cylinders. Almost all of the jokes land. And damn it if Efron doesn't actually manage to convince as the young Perry after a while.

Perhaps because it is directed by Burr Steers (who made Igby Goes Down) this is surprisingly well done. It may not offer anything especially new, but let's face it the audience it is primarily aimed at probably hasn't seen any of those other movies mentioned above anyway (well, okay maybe the Freaky Friday remake, but that's probably it). However this doesn't matter for those who have seen them (and i've seen them all) because this is a damn fun ride.

It gets off to a rocky start with Efron having a couple of moments of shirtless hoop-shooting and cheerleader-accompanied dancing clearly designed to appeal to his High School Musical fans but serving to instantly put 30-somethings like me on the edge of my seat in anticipation of a walk out. But then we're quickly into Matthew Perry being Matthew Perry and all is comfortably Chandleresque. Then, with the help of Brian Doyle Murray's janitor, it all goes a bit It's A Wonderful Life for a minute and we're back with Efron. Now i'm only familiar with Efron from the musical version of Hairspray, in which he was fine but unremarkable, but damn the kid has charisma - you can definitely see how he's transcended the nonsense of the High School Musical franchise. But what was surprising for me about 17 Again was Efron actually does have talent. He evokes genuine sexual chemistry with Leslie Mann (playing his wife who doesn't know Perry's become Efron and doesn't get why her son's best friend looks like her husband did as a kid) delivering some of the edgy laughs that a film of this type desperately needs. He also plays the confused authoritarian, out of his depth in a younger hipper generation convincingly. What's more he's obviously studied Perry's intonations, mannerisms and expressions which he layers in at certain moments, often quite subtley, so that you gradually find yourself believing he is the young version of Perry (after all couldn't the character have had some plastic surgery between 17 and 37 to explain key facial differences that on the surface make the match-up ludicrous?).

Mann is also great, really throwing herself into the role and not afraid to go places many actors might steer clear of, while seeming believable. The best friend is also funny, although the film does have a tendency to overplay the geeky attributes of this character and the few times jokes fall flat are in the latter arc of this character. Michelle Tractenberg is wasted in a nothing role and none of the other characters make an impact. But this is Efron's movie and he knows it, and he really makes the most (after those odd opening moments) of his chance to prove there's more to him than a singing-dancing mannequin.

Is this the best movie of its type? No. Of course it pales in comparison to Big, but it is better than the rest of the 80s batch and on a similar plain of fun quality to the Freaky Friday remake, but more slickly done, so i would make a case that it is probably the most enjoyable of its type after Big. Regardless, if you accept it for what it is and don't expect an ounce of originality you will sit back and just enjoy the hell out of this entertaining movie. A director who knows what beats to hit with a star proving that he can hit every one. Colour me stunned!