How many 18 year olds have neck tattoos??
Written: May 05 '09
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Product Rating:
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| Bang For The Buck |
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Pros: Zac Efron has a nice sense of comedic timing.
Cons: An 18 year old with a neck tattoo.
The Bottom Line: So, do I recommend this film? Yes. Zac Efron has a nice sense of comedic timing. He’s more than just a pretty face.
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| pcomsec's Full Review: 17 Again |
Ahoy, there be some Spoilers ahead!
Ok, so I went to see "17 Again" last weekend because 1. I hadn’t been out of the house to the movies for 2 weeks because of my illness(es) - either "swine flu" or a "computer virus" - I’m not sure what it was although the doctor said it was bronchitis. Anyway. I mainly wanted to see this movie, NO not because of Zac Efron (hey, I’m not 13), but because of Thomas Lennon. I just LOVE him.
This movie is along the lines of "Freaky Friday", "Big", "Vice Versa", "Like Father, Like Son", although in this movie, the main character - Mike - wants to relive his life because his girlfriend (in high school) got pregnant and he "had" to marry her.
Zac Efron plays the young Mike, a/k/a "Mark" (from "High School Musical"), Matthew Perry plays the old Mike (from "Friends"), Leslie Mann is "Scarlett" (from "Knocked Up" - how ironic(!) and "Big Daddy"), Michelle Trachtenberg is "Maggie" ( from "Ice Princess"), Melora Hardin is "Principal Masterson" (from "The Office", "27 Dresses") and Thomas Lennon is "Ned" (from "Reno 911" and "I Love You Man"). Another of my favorite actresses - Nicole Sullivan (from "Madtv" and "King of Queens" as Holly, the dog walker) had a very tiny part as the friend of Scarlett’s who tries to get her back in the dating scene.
Well I pretty much gave you the story line - man having a midlife crisis wants to relive his life, a "do-over" if you will. The conduit to this "switch" comes in the form of a janitor at Mike’s kids’ high school (played by Brian Doyle-Murray).
One of my favorite relationships is between Ned and Principal Masterson. She repeatedly tells him she does not date the parents of any of her students. (Ned is pretending to be Mark’s dad.) Ned is also a big-time computer geek/nerd who has made scads of money from it. He’s also really into role play - i.e., "Dungeons and Dragons", "Star Wars", to the point he has bought many costumes/items from the films, and sleeps in a racer/rocket bed and wears the Spock ears. I liked the many scenes where Ned is trying to convince her to date him. Finally on their dinner date, he discovers that she is a "Lord of the Rings" fan/geek. They end up in bed, both wearing Spock ears. Ok, I thought that was cute.
One "goof" I noticed is that when Mark and his son Alex are in the school cafeteria eating lunch, Mark’s burger keeps moving around the tray/table.
And here’s a pet peeve of mine. The senior guy who is Maggie’s boyfriend, besides NOT looking like a teenager - has a neck tattoo. (I understand it’s to let us know that he’s a "bad a**".) It’s not that he has a tattoo that bugs me. (I have double digits of tattoos.) It’s just that in most states you have to be 18 to get a tattoo (unless a parent or guardian signs for you.). Now I’ll suspend reality and say that the guy is 18, there’s no way his first (and I’m assuming here that it’s the only one he has because I couldn’t see any others) tattoo would be on his neck. Most tattoo places will not do first tattoos on visible areas such as neck, face or hands. (They just won’t, not for your first one. Trust me. I used to work part-time at a tattoo shop.) So right there, I’m irritated.
I liked the relationship Mark tries to have with his kids - with him being their peer and not their dad. The relationship between him and Maggie was done a little more thoroughly than the one between him and his son Alex.
There is a bit of an "ick" factor when, towards the end, Maggie breaks up with Stan and has a bit of a crush on Mark and tries to hug and kiss him (who in reality is her dad). It was handled very well, but it still made me a bit uncomfortable, although in all fairness, I knew it was coming at some point in the movie.
I will say that Zac Efron, who I did not know about until High School Musical and now this film, has a nice comedic timing to him. So far, what I’ve seen him in, I think he does a good job at acting, although let’s be honest, he’s not doing "Shakespeare". I was pleasantly surprised that he did so well with the timing.
So, do I recommend this film? Yes. Zac Efron has a nice sense of comedic timing, he’s more than just a pretty face.
Recommended:
Yes
Movie Mood: Date Movie
Viewing Method: Other
Film Completeness: Looked complete to me.
Worst Part of this Film: Nothing
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Epinions.com ID:
pcomsec
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Member: dawn
Location: PA
Reviews written: 478
Trusted by: 45 members
About Me:
"Happy wife, happy life". Kudos to "The Real Housewives of New Jersey".
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