Year of release: 2009
Director: Burr Steers
Cast: Zac Efron, Matthew Perry, Allison Miller, Leslie Mann
Genre: Romantic comedy

At the age of 17, Mike O’Donnell was at the top. The star of the basketball team at the high school where he studied he was also up for a scholarship. And how can you be a star if you aren’t dating your soul mate right? Scarlett was her name. Life was just perfect. But how long does it stay that way? Not that long for Mike. The night big college scouts are at his big game and keeping an eye out for him, eligibility for a scholarship and all that, his lady love drops a bomb on him – she’s pregnant. As responsible as Mike is he decides to leave the ‘big’ game and instead asks her to marry him. And she agrees. Throughout their marriage all Mike does is complain about a life he lost out on and gave up because they got married. So Scarlett kicks him out. Like that wasn’t enough he loses his job too. The only thing he can resort to is going back to his favourite place – high school. There while looking through a photo album the janitor asks if he wants to be 17 again. Mike says yes. That night while he drives around town he sees this janitor standing on a ledge ready to jump off the bridge. Mike jumps to go rescue him. When he gets there he sees that the janitor is missing. Puzzled, he comes back home to his best friend Ned’s house, where he has been living, only he’s 17 now. After convincing Ned that he really is Mike he decides to return to high school to live the life he never had the chance for.
Zac Efron certainly steps out of his image in High School Musical to show that there is more to him than being a swooning 17 year old. The perfect heartthrob of every teenage girl and a good role model for a 21 year old in the 21st century, Efron has a lot more coming his way after this movie. The movie is a little cheesy but with Efron delivering those cheesy dialogues the largest part of the targeted audience will be too busy drooling or palpitating to even notice. The geeky friend Ned played by Lennon is the major contribution to the comedy in this film. The Lord of the Rings references are particularly attention catching.

Efron’s character comes off as the movie’s message that the younger generation needs to pay some attention to self respect and know what high school really is about – education. And being the great role model in Hollywood that he already is, he pulls off this character pretty smoothly and with much ease with all his ‘prettiness’ intact. 17 again might not be the film that delivers something new in high school based movies but it still is a fun enough movie to go out to with your friends. It is more of a ‘Girl’s Day Out’ kind of a flick.

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