Zac Efron stars as 17-year-old Mike O’Donnell, a high school senior who seems to have it all – he’s the school’s basketball star, it looks like he’s going to be drafted, he’s popular and he has a great girlfriend.  Everything changes, however, when he finds out that she’s pregnant.  He walks away from the most important game of his life to be with her and he convinces her to marry him.  It looks like they might live happily ever after until the movie fast-forwards to years later when things aren’t going so well.

Mike and his wife, Scarlett (Leslie Mann), are filing for divorce and his kids, daughter Maggie (Michelle Trachtenberg) and Alex (Sterling Knight), practically hate him.  As if that isn’t bad enough, he’s passed over for a major promotion at his job.  Faced with the reality of the situation, Mike moves in with his best friend, Ned (Thomas Lennon) but it’s not long before Mike’s wish of going back to high school and doing it all over again comes true.  Will he make the same choices?

I’ve got to say that Efron does a better job than I was expecting, Matthew Perry (who I hoped was making a comeback as the adult version of Mike in this film) gets shafted with a teeny part and Lennon basically steals the show with his over-the-top behavior (that picture on the right is from inside Ned’s house!!!).

Plus, it’s nice to see an adult get the chance to go back to high school and say all of the things they should have said to bullies, classmates and teachers.  I wish I could do it!

images: WB

Post from: EveryJoe

Photo by Chuck Zlotnick/WB

Zac Efron plays Mike O’Donnell, a young man in the Class of 1989 who seems to have it all – he’s the star of his high school’s basketball team and he’s being courted by a college scout.  His plans for the future change, however, when he finds out this his girlfriend, Scarlet (Allison Miller), is pregnant.

Nearly two decades later, things are not going well for Mike and Scarlet.  Their marriage is falling apart, he was overlooked for a promotion at work, his children don’t like him and he ends up staying with his “high school nerd-turned-techno-billionaire best friend Ned (Thomas Lennon).”

In the tradition of Freaky Friday and Big, Mike gets a chance to relive his 17th year when he is miraculously turned into a high schooler again.  As he gets swept up in trying to recapture his youth in 2009, he risks losing all of the best things that have ever happened to him.

It could be a great Friday night date movie. Check out the trailer!

Post from: EveryJoe

image: New Line Cinema

“I said, ‘Thanks’, and he said, ‘No, seriously, that’s pretty much the only way you’re going to screw this up, and you shouldn’t go down that road – it will mess you up without fail. Do not do drugs.’

“That was enough for me; that’s all I needed to hear.”

The 21-year-old actor, who will next be appearing in 17 Again, explained that he grew up in a strict household and found other ways to channel his energy: “I could never get into trouble like the rest of my friends. My parents were very strict and taught me good values, whenever I did anything wrong my mom would somehow know it.   I started skateboarding as a kid – it’s like surfing on the sidewalk. I love it. It’s a Zen thing, so much better than walking. It’s almost spiritual.”

17 Again hits theaters on April 17, 2009.

image: New Line Cinema

Post from: EveryJoe