Review: 17 Again

There have been photos zipping across the web of Zac Efron and Leonardo DiCaprio hanging out together — the angle being some sort of passing of the heartthrob torch. Well, that must be all it is because obviously DiCaprio isn’t passing on acting tips, or if he is, Efron’s smart enough not to listen.

Yeah, you read that right.

Zac Efron is marvelous in “17 Again.” He’s everything DiCaprio is not: natural, at ease, funny, and not trying to impress anyone with that showy, actory catnip elitists adore but only breaks the spell for the rest of us. Leo hasn’t given a believable performance since his work in “Catch Me If You Can” seven years ago. Efron, however, has the makings of a bona fide movie star. He may never do Shakespeare in the park, but I bought every second of his performance. He has presence, a masculinity that belies his appearance and he carries himself with an impressive confidence.

But that’s not the film’s biggest surprise. “17 Again” is openly and sincerely in favor of teenage abstinence.

It’s 1987. Hair is poofy, Boy George jokes fly and Mike O’Donnell (Efron) is the high school basketball star with only a bright future ahead of him. Then… In an utterly contrived moment, he makes a fateful decision that sets the course for the rest of his life, a life that twenty years later finds him looking like Matthew Perry and deeply unhappy with his wife, two kids, and dead end job. He’s bitter over that fateful decision and that bitterness poisoned his perspective and blinded him to all the good right in front of him.

In the middle of a divorce, Mike lives with his best friend from high school Ned (scene-stealer Thomas Lennon), a lonely Dungeons and Dragons/Lord of the Rings millionaire geek who lives in fanboy heaven surrounded by all the toys money can buy. They’re an odd couple who bond in their mutual unhappiness until something happens I won’t spoil (not that it’s all that clever) and Mike finds himself “17 Again” in 2009.

Ned poses as Mike’s dad so he can “fulfill his mystic destiny” and use this do-over to make all the choices he should have the first time. This plan’s quickly derailed when Mike gets his first real look at who his estranged children (and now fellow classmates) really are. And so he sets out to help them and in the process reconnect with their mother, his soon to be ex, played by the ever-fetching Leslie Mann.

The film’s biggest failure is in failing to milk the premise for all it’s worth. Mike, a romantically close to forty guy dropped into a modern L.A. high school, should be a pathetic fish out of water constantly caught off guard and struggling to catch up. But almost immediately he’s in complete control of his surroundings, handling the high school bully with ease and becoming the big man on campus.

Mike’s emotional arc is equally unsatisfying. The selfish grown up we expect to rip into this opportunity looking out only for number one changes almost immediately into the protective dad. This change is both abrupt and unnatural. Where did the growth come from? This kind of enlightenment should be something hard-earned and emotionally affecting for the audience, not the result of a plot in need of a turn.

While the story never rises above sitcom level (which is true for the cinematography, as well), what can’t be overlooked is the film’s winning charm. In the best sense of the word, this is a nice movie. There’s a heart at work here that’s in the right place and deserving of goodwill thanks to both genial performances and, most surprisingly, a moral clarity.

In an early scene, a sex-ed teacher mocks abstinence education and passes out condoms, In her mind it’s a foregone conclusion high school seniors will have sex, but Mike summons 20 years of experience and not only argues with her – he wins the argument! Later he’ll explain to three over-sexed cheerleaders that no one respects them because they don’t respect themselves, and if this isn’t enough, the film’s heavy is a punk who uses girls for sex.

This is a big deal. This is a mainstream Hollywood film allowing the biggest teen heartthrob in the country to sincerely and effectively make this argument. I have gummi bears in my hair because I had to be picked up off the floor. No, this won’t undo fifteen years of objectifying and hyper-sexualizing teenage girls, but between this and a similar theme in the wildly popular “Twilight” series, could we be seeing the rare healthy turn in pop-culturedom? Let’s hope.

“17 Again” doesn’t lack for flaws, but it is amusing, good-natured, paced well, safe for the kids and refreshingly void of irony and cynicism. (for whatever reason, I’m trying to avoid the word “wholesome.”) That’s worth something these days and everyone involved deserves credit, especially Efron who marks his arrival with poise and star power.