17 Again on Netflix

Say what you will about this being a cheesy, typical rom com mixed in with teenage romance mixed in with divorce sadness. I know, it's been done a million times before but I guess you could say that I am one of those people that thinks that this "typical plot line" when done correctly, simply works. 17 again ticks all the boxes of humor, bravado, and touching family moments that I look for in this type of film and it hit me right in the "feels." I like it and once again disagree with the 50-60% review score that it has on many popular movie review sites.

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To be fair, this film has got much higher ratings than a lot of the other ones that have traveled down this well-trodden plot road and I truly think it is deserved because it doesn't go too far down any one particular road. It isn't a slapstick comedy, it isn't a full-on teenage drama, nor is it overly sappy.

But it also does involve some sort of magic that doesn't really exist in the other ones... ok nevermind a lot of them involved magic as well.

The trailer I saw for the film features Matthew Perry (Chandler from Friends) in it prominently and I figured he was going to be the star of it. As it turns out Perry is in very little of the film outside of the intro and outro because he gets magically transformed into his 17 year old self in the first 15 minutes of the film.

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The story behind all of this is that Mike O'Donnell (Perry) had a really bright future as a basketball star but he tossed that all away in order to marry his high-school sweetheart who he has gotten pregnant. We all know that there would have been a fantastic opportunity for him to both marry his sweetheart AND go to college on the scholarship, but the film presents it as an either or scenario so we just have to take that at face value.

Years later he has 2 kids and a wife and a boring job that he hates and try as he may he can't seem to stop blaming all of that on the one choice he made when he was 17 to abandon his dreams of basketball stardom to be with his girl. Before he gets zapped back in time to his old body, he is beginning divorce proceedings with his wife, Scarlet (played by Leslie Mann)

He is the only person who gets transformed to his 17 year old self, everyone else remains the same including his two teenage children who he ends up attending school with.

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Some of the best humor comes from something that I think all of us can relate to as we get older: We are completely out of touch with what is "cool" to kids today and even though he returns to his attractive, athletic, Zac Efron body, he is completely out of touch with today's youth in how he talks, how he dresses, and just overall how he is. Therefore he struggles to be one of the cool kids.

He does eventually emerge as a basketball star (as we expect right from the start) and the movie doesn't exactly take any twists that you don't see coming from a mile away. Sure, it's predictable and normally that sort of thing bothers me, but the family emotion that comes out in O'Donnell's eventual realization that the things that he feels are most important in life are the things he had all along.

Should I watch it?

If you are the type of person that is going to groan when a plot-line isn't something truly unique then I would say "no" you shouldn't because you are unlikely to enjoy it. For the most part, I too do not enjoy unoriginal films like this but every now and them I am in the mood for a heartwarming film that shows the importance of family...and i think that is something that most of us are guilty of forgetting from time to time. I got choked up a few times and found it really entertaining even though I knew exactly what was going to happen at basically all times.