DVD
REVIEW: 17 Again
08/08/09
OVERVIEW:
What would you do if you got a
second shot at life? Find out when 17 Again arrives on DVD
August 11 from Warner Home Video. Zac Efron and Matthew Perry
star in this laugh-out-loud comedy that follows one man on his
journey to recapture best years of his life.
On August 11th, 17 Again will also be available ON DEMAND through Digital
Cable, Satellite TV, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 game
consoles and it can be downloaded for rental or purchase on iTunes and Amazon Video On Demand.
SYNOPSIS: If you somehow had the chance, would you do your life over? Thirtysomething Mike O'Donnell would. Then one mysteriously magical moment, Mike gets his chance. He?s suddenly back at Hayden High where he?s the star of the basketball team, a total hottie, and a classmate to his own teenage kids, which gives Mike a chance to go from not-so-good dad to really cool friend. Zac Efron (Hairspray, the High School Musical movies) and Matthew Perry (Friends) are 17 Again and fabulously funny as the younger and older Mike in a good-time time-warp comedy that proves the best year of your life is the one you?re living right now.
FILM : So here we
go “Again”. Nah, not really, this movie is a lot of fun even
though it is an overdone theme. How many times have you seen
this typical story where a person’s fate/destiny is twisted
in order to teach a lesson? This movie does follow the same
pattern but it does seem a little different too. Plus the
fact that I’ll admit . . . I’m a sucker for this kind of
story. I’ve enjoyed a lot of them and this was no exception.
I did go in not expecting a whole lot because of its typical
storyline but I was impressed and entertained. The film was
cute, touching, quite funny, with good life lessons, and a
good cast that meshed very well. I was most impressed by Zac
Efron, who plays the lead role of Mike O’Donnell as a teen.
I really haven’t seen a lot of his work so I didn’t know
what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised. He actually
carried the movie quite well. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not
giving him an Oscar or anything, but he wasn’t cheesy or
lame as I thought he might be. He actually delivered a
convincing role. Matthew Perry plays the adult counterpart
and Matthew really doesn’t get a chance to shine due to the
small role. On the other hand, Mike O’Donnell’s lifelong
best friend, Ned Gold as an adult, was played by Thomas
Lennon and he was right on as usual. He has done some
incredible supporting role work in comedies throughout his
career and this one can go near the top. You can also put
Leslie Mann in that category of unsung comedic heroes, or in
this case heroine. She plays Mike’s wife Scarlett and again,
as always, she delivers a gem.
One aspect of this movie that surprisingly helped accentuate
these sharp roles was the wardrobe used for the characters.
After Mike becomes 17 again, his outfit choice for his first
day back at school is interesting to say the least. Luckily
he tones down to a more acceptable modern day, laid back,
high school style. But top honors goes to nerdy, but filthy
rich Ned whose eccentric ensembles take him outside the box
of normality and add to the comedic effectiveness of his
performance. By the way, it really does help to have a
filthy rich best friend. It adds a lot more flavor to the
movie such as in the use of certain automobiles. For
example, Ned hooks up Mike with a gorgeous Audi R8 to drive
to school. In another scene you see Ned driving a yellow
Lamborghini. Sorry, but I do so enjoy these little details.
You can tell that Director Burr Steers paid attention to
detail in this motion picture. This could have easily been
one of those mass produced, cranked out, cookie cutter
movies with some audience attracting names to just make a
few bucks and go. Well this movie is more than that. This
being only his second major motion picture direction, not a
bad job at all by Mr. Steers. If you like the destiny
twisting stories, I can safely recommend this movie to you.
Film Review By Cine Marcos
cinemarcos@smartcine.com
DVD: The DVD is a double sided
disc including the widescreen and full screen versions of
the film. The picture is complemented with a 5.1 Dolby
Digital audio in English Spanish and French. The surprise in
this DVD version is the absents of extras. If you want to
get and inside look at the making of the film you should go
for the Blu-ray version.
VIDEO:
Standard [4:3 Transfer]
Widescreen [16:9 Transfer]
AUDIO:
English 5.1 Dolby Digital
Subtitles - English Spanish
RATING BREAK DOWN:
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