17 Again

Teen heart throb Zac Efron returns to his acting career in the teen comedy 17 Again. This movie stars Matthew Perry as thirty-seven-year-old Mike O'Donnel who gives up the chance for a college basketball scholarship, forsaking college to marry his girlfriend. Now he lives with his nerdy billionaire best friend, Ned (Thomas Lennon), as a man who has been kicked out of his house, is hated by his kids, and hates himself for making that decision when he was seventeen. All he wants is to get another chance at life and that's where the plot unfolds. After Mike falls into a magical portal, he is transformed back into his seventeen-year-old body (Zac Efron). With help from Ned, Mike O'Donnel tries to get a better life by reliving high-school. However, he soon finds out that the reason he was transformed was to establish a better relationship with his kids.
The surprise with this movie is that it is down right hilarious. I was not expecting this film to be the comedy it was. There is great humor (although some of the humor is for an adult audience) throughout the entire film and the scenes all deliver large laughs from the crowd. From the essence of the nerdy friend to the teen humor, there are laughs that all ages will appreciate.
This movie also has many life lessons such as when seventeen-year-old Mike tries to convince the students at his school to not have sex before marriage. The irony of this story is that Mike starts acting like a father when he is transformed into a teen. He cares for his daughter and tries to protect her from her sleazy boyfriend. Mike also helps his son, who is bullied by the basketball team, by coaching him in sports and teaching him how to get the girl of his dreams. In this movie, we see Mike O'Donnel realize that he should not live in the past so he can instead focus on the present.
With a good mix of comedy, romance, and drama, this movie is a great warm up to the summer movie season. This film is rated PG-13 for language, some sexual material, and teen partying. 7 out of 10.