Yes, 17 Again is truly Big in reverse. A man basically looks into the face of a magical being and says I wish I was 17 again. As an example of sitcom tact this movie excels, but as a filmed comedy meant to be taken seriously in premise and character there’s quite a bit lacking here. Suspension of disbelief is a major problem, as are numerous logical fallacies that make up the engine on which this film runs. And while the film will surely be a crowd-pleasing success, as judged by the uproarious good time the audience in the theatre I was in were having, I will remain respectfully indifferent to what was presented.

First, in what alternative dimension does Zac Efron grow up to be Matthew Perry? The film opens with the younger Mike O’Donnell practicing his free throw (shirt off, ladies) and continues through as he clowns around with the team, does a dance number with the cheerleaders and rocks the court as an all-star with a bright future playing college ball. So naturally, because things are going so good, his beloved high school sweetheart Scarlett tells him she’s pregnant just moments before the big game. Where the scout’s waiting. And a full ride to a happy life awaits. By the time we get to sad sack Matthew Perry version of Zac Efron, he’s bitter, morose, out of touch, and surprisingly embittered towards his now-wife Scarlett despite the fact that she grew up to be Leslie Mann.

So like any forward thinking middle-aged hack, when he gets his youth and vigour back, Mike decides to enrol in his old high school. The high school his kids currently go to. It’s also the one that he was a superstar in and where he’s going to attempt to be a superstar again. He ends up playing for the same coach that taught him 20 years earlier too. Which brings me to a simple bit of deductive reasoning: wouldn’t somebody notice? I mean I realize that a high school basketball coach probably sees a lot of kids in 20 years, but are you seriously going to forget the rising star that walked out mid-game and threw his future away? I’m going to go out on a limb and say probably not. Plus, nobody walked past the trophy case, saw the team picture from 1989 and say, “didn’t I see that guy in math class?”

Of course, this being the movie that it is, Mike never has to explain his way out of situation where in someone points out that there was another kid, that looked exactly the same and with the exact same interested and dispositions, and went that high school years earlier. Fine, cool, I can accept a coach’s faulty memory (one too many balls to the head) and a trophy case left unexamined (quit living in the past, man), but really, the wife wouldn’t be more suspicious? She wouldn’t think twice about the abnormally attentive kid that bears a striking resemblance to the teenage form of her husband, and who looks at her with bedroom eyes while hanging out with her son? Or for that matter, the fact that younger Mike is posing as the never-before-heard-of child of a family friend, doesn’t send up any red flags?

Aside from plot dissection, I actually thought that Efron did an admirable job of capturing that unique Perry quality. But after seeing him in Me & Orson Welles last fall at the Toronto International Film Festival I thought he was going to shake off this teen beat stuff pretty fast, but I guess not. By far though, the biggest highlight is Thomas Lennon (Dangle from Reno 911), as Mike’s best friend and confidant in the back to school caper. Not only is his geekishly-attuned character a constant delight in presence, but his half-demented attempts at seduction of the school’s principal is the real romantic comedy in this film. Otherwise, this is just like a million other body-swap comedies that say the same things no matter how different they think they are.