- Film Review
- Reviewed By Andrew Collins
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2 out of 5
Aimed squarely at the teen market, this vehicle for High School Musical heart-throb Zac Efron is a body-switch comedy that blends Big, Freaky Friday, Back to the Future and even It's a Wonderful Life. Mike O'Donnell (Matthew Perry) is a walking disappointment, overlooked for promotion, ignored by his teenage kids and thrown out by wife Scarlett (Leslie Mann) - it was their shotgun marriage in 1989 that ended Mike's promising future in basketball. But some hokily convenient business with a magic janitor on a bridge transforms him back into his 17-year-old self (Efron), and he re-enrols at high school. The scenarios that ensue are predictable and undynamic - his own daughter comes onto him, he defeats the school bully with distinctly adult logic - though, while Efron has charm, Perry is all-too-briefly on screen, so it's down to nerdy best friend Ned (Thomas Lennon) to supply offbeat comic substance. And, despite one shoehorned-in opportunity, Efron fans might miss his singing and dancing.
Plot Summary
Comedy starring Matthew Perry and Zac Efron. Since giving up the chance of a glittering career in basketball to marry his pregnant girlfriend when they were just high-school kids, Mike O'Donnell has often reflected on how things might have been. Then one night he encounters a mysterious janitor at his old school and gets the chance to find out.
Cast and crew
Cast
- Mike O'Donnell as an adult
- Matthew Perry
- Mike O'Donnell, aged 17
- Zac Efron
- Scarlett O'Donnell as an adult
- Leslie Mann
- Ned Gold
- Thomas Lennon
- Maggie
- Michelle Trachtenberg
- Scarlett, aged 17
- Allison Miller
- Ned, aged 17
- Tyler Steelman
- Jaime
- Katerina Graham
- Alex
- Sterling Knight
- Jane Masterson
- Melora Hardin
Crew
- Director
- Burr Steers
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