17 Again
PG-13 for language, some sexual material and teen partying
It's become one of the jazz standards of film -- the back-in-high-school-jump-into-adulthood story. Every few years, some studio decides it's time for the next kid to be "13 Going on 30" or to get "Big" or to head "Back to the Future" or for some middle-aged sad sack to magically revisit his or her magical teen years.
Riffing on the familiar theme this time is Matthew Perry/Zac Efron trying to fix his broken marriage and his bad parenting as a cooler-than-he-should-be 17 year old.
The Story
On the night of the biggest basketball game of his life, Mike O'Donnell learns two things -- there's a college scholarship riding on his performance and his girlfriend Scarlett (Leslie Mann) is pregnant. Mike impulsively ditches the game to "be there" for Scarlett, leaving college and basketball behind.
Flash forward 17 years, and we learn that noble Mike turned into a resentful jerk always half-blaming Scarlett and his kids for ruining his life. That's why she's divorcing him and they can't stand him. Oh, and he lost his sales job, too. And he's now living with Ned (Thomas Lennon), his best friend from high school, an uber-dork/major sci-fi fan who is also a software millionaire.
Then a mystical janitor shows up and Mike is sucked into a muddy portal and suddenly he's "17 Again." With Ned's help in all things sci-fi, Mike decides his his "spirit guide" wants him to go back to high school to start his life over -- only to quickly change his mind and decide that maybe he's supposed to help his kids and get his wife back. Or maybe not.
As their dad, Mike had no idea his son Alex (Sterling Knight) was the object of bullying or that his daughter Maggie (Michelle Trachtenberg) was the very affectionate girlfriend of the head bully and captain of the basketball team. Now as a peer, Mike is determined to get them on the right paths.
The Verdict
What we thought of the film on it's own terms
What Works: It's neither the best or the worst of the "do my life over again" movies, but "17 Again" succeeds best when not taking it's premise too seriously.
Thomas Lennon -- as Ned, the wealthy dork with a giant, uninhibited crush on Mike's principal (Melora Hardin, seen just last week in "Hannah Montana") -- almost single-handedly saves the movie from his supporting comic relief roll. He is unexpectedly and repeatedly hilarious.
Zac Efron shows a little emotional range and is plenty likable as young Mike, especially when bolstering his son Alex's confidence or backing down the young psychopath his daughter is swapping spit with. He's also got a nice emotional speech to his wife on the brink of their divorce.
In spite of bumps in the road, the story ends up in a strangely very satisfying place.
What Doesn't Work: Those bumps in the road are big enough to keep the film from crossing over into must-see territory. Given all the basketball (and even a little dancing), the filmmakers never seem to want you to forget that Efron just graduated from "High School Musicals."
And much of his performance as a 30-something guy in a teenage body just doesn't ring true. That's partly because the film's writer seems to think that a high school senior could make a huge impression on his fellow students by making long, clever, overly confident speeches about bullies and teen sex.
Content: Some harsh language includes uses of Jesus' and God's name for swearing, and Mike's daughter makes out repeatedly with her goony boyfriend. More disturbing, she comes on hard to Mike (not realizing he's her dad) when they're alone in a bedroom -- which is more gross than young Mike romancing his adult wife while she think he's a teenage boy.
Worldview
How the film's take on life compares to a biblical perspective
It's not a major worldview component of the film, but "17 Again" does address the issue of teen sex and pregnancy in a positive way. In a health class lesson on sex-ed, the teacher dismisses the school's official policy of promoting abstinence and hands out condoms "since it's unrealistic to expect high school seniors to abstain from sex."
Young Mike, sitting in a room with his teen daughter and her condom-equipped bullying boyfriend, objects. He tells the teacher and the other students that he believes all of them should wait for sex until long after high school, when they're really in love, after they're married, even.
Mike, of course, is also speaking as a former teen father who feels his life was seriously detoured by getting his girlfriend pregnant. With a chance to do it all over again, he wants to wait. And he wants his daughter to wait for what he tenderly describes as the life-changing moment of holding a newborn daughter in one's hands for the first time.
Believable or not, his speech convinces several students to give the condoms back with the intention of waiting longer for sex. His daughter also eventually makes a choice not to have sex (though she quickly reverses that position later on). It's a nice moment, both surprisingly pro-abstinence and pro-life.
As Bible-believing Christians, we're convinced that God's Word teaches us to save sex for marriage -- and that the benefits of doing so go far beyond just not getting your girlfriend pregnant in high school. But believing it doesn't make waiting easy.
Often, students are convinced they will save sex for marriage even while they're quickly moving through all the sexual roadblocks between "making out" and "having intercourse." Suddenly they find only one roadblock left and very little interest in stepping on the brakes.
Of course, God forgives. And "17 Again" makes the point that even if you've made an unwise choice in high school, your detoured life is still meaningful. It's not "over." God can use even our sinful choices to make spectacular use of our lives for His glory.
But it sure would help if you could send your 30-something self back in time to warn your current self about the pain and heartache and difficult consequences that come with crashing through roadblocks when you're 17. It would be great to hear right out loud from your much older lips that you never regretted (for very long) making a wise, self-controlled choice even if it felt like "missing out" at the time.
But nobody gets to turn back the clock in real life. That's why Solomon urged his sons to "get wisdom" now, when they were still young enough to make choices that would pay off for decades, maybe forever. "Though it cost all you have, get understanding," he begged. Your 30-something self will thank you. (Just hopefully not in person.)
Questions:
- What's your favorite "hopping around in the timeline of your life" movieHow does "17 Again" stack up?
- Zac EfronStill making number one movies when he's a 30-something?
- How do you think your parents might have turned out differently if they had made different choices in high schoolHave you ever asked them?
- Did you know that according to recent studies, more than half of all high school students are still virginsWould you guess that from what you see in your schoolWould you guess that from what you see on TV and in movies?
- If you believe it's best to save sex for marriage, what would you say are the benefits of thatWhat are the potential consequences of not waiting?
- Were you a little moved by Mike's choice at the end of the film or was that just me?
- What do you think would happen in a potential sequel to this filmThink there's anything we can do to keep it from happening(Sequels to time-hopping movies often don't turn out very well.)
- Think any of the other former "Friends" cast should team up with stars from "High School Musical" to make moviesWhich pairing would you want to see mostLeast?
Comments
cindy jada on Nov 30, 2009 said...
You are right in practicing safe religion! People that have sex before marriage or at least before their engagement are the caliber of people that drive a truck for a living and watch Jerry Springer. I have worked with people of this low IQ before. I have even spoken with them and they usually are democrats..
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mamiecierra on Dec 01, 2009 said...
Well this day in age marriage isn’t the way it used to be, i don’t think its wrong to have sex before marriage but i do think that the man or woman should at least wait until they know for certain that they are ready to have sex. As far as gay/lesbians go i do feel as though sex is between a man and a woman but i also feel as though love doesn’t hold any boundaries and if they feel as though they love the same sex than so be it, its not my business.
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Jaleesa Dahlen on Dec 06, 2009 said...
I enjoyed how he promoted teens not to have sex before marriage. When they were passing out condoms for the class to take almost everyone but him took one. And he did a whole BIG explaination of why he wasnt going to take one and that was one thing that surprised me. I thought he WAS the type of guy would take the condoms but he made a movie where he was whole-heartedly excepting the fact that it is truly wrong to have sex before marriage.
Karah on Aug 24, 2009 said...
1. My fave timeline movie is 13 going on 30! 17 again did not measure up in any way at all, atleast 13 going on 30 had atleast 85% of the movie hilarious!!!!!
2. Zac efron is 21 he was born October 18, 1987! I looked it up cuz i new he wasn’t thirty!
3. My mom didn’t make many mistakes in high school!
4. In my school, NO WAY! I would definately not believe that in what I see in movies!
5. I think VERY highly that sex is for marriage! I think the benefits are that when you wait and your partner waits you have no chance of getting STD’s passed from other people. The consequences of having sex before marriage are unwanted pregnancies, STD’s, and family/friend problems.
6.I was EXTREMELY moved by mike’s choice!
7.idk wat we could possibly do to end the sequel but u r sooooo rite sequel to time hopping movies are horrible.
8. I think it would definately be interesting! I would hate to see Jennifer Aniston and that one guy named ryan in the movie idk wat his real name is, that pair would be horrible!