Body-swap comedies used to be like mall cops and Third World orphans: Hollywood couldn't get enough of them.
Dudley Moore and Kirk Cameron played switcheroo (more innocuous than it sounds) in Like Father Like Son.
George Burns transferred his consciousness into Charlie Schlatter -- a.k.a. that actor you'd forgotten existed -- in 18 Again.
And in Big, a 12-year-old woke up to discover he looked like that guy from Bosom Buddies -- plus he had pubes!
Oh, those zany 1980s.
But wait. Bosom what? Dudley who? All of this 20th century history is, of course, about as relevant to fans of tween dreamboat Zac Efron as the Dead Sea scrolls.
After all, the cliches 17 Again cobbles together -- a pinch of Back to the Future, a dollop of Teen Wolf -- are older than they are.
Fair enough. For their parents, however, as well as discerning 20-somethings, this too-familiar fantasy will probably seem as fresh as yesteryear's jockstrap.
Consider yourself warned.
In Efron's first move away from the High School Musical juggernaut, we first meet his character Mike O'Donnell in 1989.
He's the hot-shot high school basketball star with everything: The unshorn locks; the dance moves; the hottest girl in school, Scarlet; and a big-time college basketball career shimmering on the horizon.
Alas, the movie begins just before The Big Game. You know the kind. It's the one where the scout is in the stands, the home crowd is stoked and Mike's very future hangs in the balance. It's here, just as he's about to stride out onto the court, where a tearful Scarlet tells Mike she's pregnant. Our hero, barely missing a beat, promptly throws in the towel -- literally -- to marry her. (Why he can't have both college basketball and the family is never explained, but then again if he did, the film wouldn't exist. Sort of like Marty McFly.)
Cut to 20 years later, and Mike's life is a series of disappointments, each more soul-crushing than the last. Not only is he separated from Scarlet (who's aged into Leslie Mann), estranged from his teenage kids and mired in a thankless sales job, but he's morphed into Matthew Perry. The humanity!
No wonder the only friend he has left is geek-turned-dot-com zillionaire Ned
(Thomas Lennon), a head-case of arrested development who uses his wealth to amass light sabres and learn Elvish.
Fortunately for Mike, it's not long before fate -- or an angelic high school janitor, anyway -- intervenes to restore him to his formerly pretty-boy self. Preposterous? Yes, for so many reasons, not the least of which is that Perry, all withering glances and ironic snarkiness, looks and behaves nothing like dull-eyed keener Efron. They might as well tell us Jerry Seinfeld used to be one of the Jonas brothers.
On the upside, it makes everything else ludicrous about this movie more palatable, such as when teenage Mike turns out to be a better, more enlightened father to gawky son Alex (Sterling Knight) and rebellious daughter Maggie (Michelle Trachtenberg).
Yet even when it's working for what it is, 17 Again never feels terribly inspired. Maybe that's because Efron, frankly, lacks the comic agility required for a role this nimble; he's as elastic as hard plastic.
Or maybe it signals the mismatch of sub-par fluff to director Burr Steers, whose impressive credits include Igby Goes Down and HBO's Big Love. Presumably, this gig was a paycheque for him.
Quick: I think he wants a do-over.
(This film is rated PG)
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