Zac Efron could be your father

Say what you will about Zac Efron. For all his Disneyfied, tween-heartthrob blandness, the kid is actually a decent actor. In 17 Again, the 21-year-old High School Musical star plays Michael O’Donnell, a man who magically transforms into his younger self and seizes the opportunity to undo his regrets. It’s yet another variation of Big, but the film, directed by Igby Goes Down helmer Burr Steers, is surprisingly clever.

On the verge of a bitter divorce, O’Donnell begins to form a bond with his two kids, something he never had when he was a contemptuous middle-aged man. The young O’Donnell, in essence, becomes one of them — a teenager high on the possibilities of life yet lost in his search for self-identity. In his kids’ sex-crazed world, abstinence is anathema and anti-individualism is in vogue. 

O’Donnell, spouting hilarious say-no-to-stupidity rhetoric — the kind of verbal punishment he’d inflict on his kids as a grown-up — begins to understand what it means to be himself again. It’s that sort of truthful “ah-ha” realization that distinguishes 17 Again from other teen-movie knockoffs, and Efron delivers it with delightful comic precision. Of course, the movie is not without some cringeworthy sophomoric jokes, but what’s high school without a bit of infantilism? 17 Again puts the high back in school.

Grade: B