I've been trying to figure out what bothers me about the TV commercials for the new movie 17 Again, and I finally know what it is: it's just not believable.I know, I know, of course a movie that features a 37-year-old man somehow becoming a teenager again through some complicated process (from the previews I think it involves a whirlpool and/or lightning) isn't supposed to be gritty realism, but I'm talking about the cast members.
Matthew Perry is playing the 37-year-old version of the lead character, and when he is turned back into his 17-year-old self, he is High School Musical star and Saturday Night Live guest host Zac Efron. This doesn't make any sense.
You know why? We know what Matthew Perry looked like 20 years ago. It's not like Matthew Perry was an unknown civilian in 1989; he was appearing on television regularly. He was one of the stars of the TV shows Second Chance and Sydney and was guest-starring on such shows as Charles in Charge, Growing Pains, Silver Spoons, Highway to Heaven, and Empty Nest. He also starred on the big screen in films like A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon and She's Out of Control. Heck, even Friends started almost 16 years ago.
Maybe it's a matter of knowing what was going on in pop culture around that time because I'm getting really old, but it really stands out to me, and it sort of ruins that suspension of disbelief we're supposed to embrace for movies like this. I mean, in similar movies, like 18 Again (jeez, couldn't the new movie go for a more original title?), you believed that Charlie Schlatter was a younger George Burns because 1) you didn't know what the heck Burns looked like when he was a teenager, and 2) Schallter was unknown and did a really good job mimicing his facial moves and voice.
Of course, I can't imagine going to see 17 Again and those that will are probably too young to care, so it's just us old fogeys who are irritated.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
4-14-2009 @ 2:10PM
clgbutterfly said...
How about the kids. The actress playing the daughter is 25 and we know this because she was Buffy's little sister!
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4-14-2009 @ 2:54PM
Cyantre said...
Who needs realism when you can cash-in on the success of a Disney heart-throb? -_-;
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4-14-2009 @ 3:37PM
Urkel said...
i was thinking the same thing. That Zac Efron guy is a handsome kid, but Mathew Perry is... Mathew Perry. You just don't see any resemblence in looks or in acting.
Anyway, I don't really care because I never can accept movies or shows where some hot guy/girl are supposed to be some sort of high school outcast and nobody likes them.
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4-14-2009 @ 3:28PM
Jennifer said...
This is just another stupid Disney movie. Why cant they just make good ones? This is just Freaky Friday w/o the daughter being involved. It's just so- contrived.
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4-14-2009 @ 4:14PM
Jonah said...
I completely agree. I am 13 so your comment about me going to see it??? Absolutely not.
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4-14-2009 @ 4:47PM
yiftach said...
Really, that's your problem with this movie? Not the fact that it's the 10 millionth ripoff of the same concept that Disney has done, and that they're just (as Cyantre and Jennifer said) cashing in on another generation of kids who haven't seen the older, better movies with this concept and will sit through any dreck with Efron and his classmates in it?
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4-14-2009 @ 5:45PM
Brian Winkeler said...
Wow. Your suspension of disbelief is so low that you must hate EVERY SINGLE MOVIE EVER MADE. Sheesh. I thought you might actually have a legitimate gripe before I read your inane post.
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4-14-2009 @ 6:48PM
StillBash said...
Wow Bob.
You are old. We get it.
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4-14-2009 @ 7:36PM
Diego M said...
i'm only 23 and i hate to see actually funny people like thomas lennon and leslie mann and matt perry being sucked into this disney crap. of course they getti paid but still, to put real funny actors with zach effron. that's like putting sprinkles on a dog shit sundae.
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4-14-2009 @ 9:10PM
Cyndi said...
Actually, 18 Again was a "brain swap" movie. George Burns didn't de-age into Charlie Schlatter. Charlie was George's grandson and they ended up switching souls somehow.
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4-14-2009 @ 10:03PM
Bob Sassone said...
Cyndi: thanks for the explanation. I guess there have been so many of these "switching bodies/getting younger" movies over the years it's hard to keep them straight.
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4-14-2009 @ 10:37PM
Elizabeth said...
This is actually the second "17 Again" movie that Disney has made. The first was made in 2000 and starred Tia & Tamara Mowry as well as Tahj Mowery, their younger brother. The movie is actually listed as Seventeen Again on IMDB. Different writers for both movies.
Synopsis: Cat and Gene have been divorced for several years. They are both visiting their son and their grandchildren, Sydney and Willie. Willie's a genius who develops a formula that makes who uses it young again, it inadvertently spills into some soap that Willie places in his grandparents room. When each of them uses it they finds themselves 17 again. Willie had to find a way to reverse the process but will his grandparents want to be old again?
I think the way to reverse it was jumping in the pool.
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4-14-2009 @ 11:57PM
Craig said...
What I find funny about the marketing of this film is that Matthew Perry is barely mentioned. Ten years ago, he would have gotten top billing. Now he's you can't even find his name in the ad. Times certainly do change.
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4-15-2009 @ 12:23AM
jake said...
This movie has been getting rave reviews -- check out rottentomatoes.com and it looks like a very fun movie.
Matthew Perry, Leslie Mann and Zac Efron -- can't wait to see it this Friday
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4-15-2009 @ 1:12AM
CC said...
@Craig - I was thinking the same thing. At least a couple of other actors in the moive are recognizable (Matthew Perry and Michelle Tratchenberg) and the only actor they mention is Zac Efron. That's pretty sad for everyone else.
Haven't seen any of those High School Musical movies and I'm older than the target demographic, but I really don't see what the point to these types of storylines (like Freaky Friday, etc).
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4-15-2009 @ 1:08PM
Will said...
They only mention Efron because this is being pushed as his "breakout" movie, the one that will launch him into Cruise/Pitt/Hanks territory. Despite the fact he's done very little to deserve it, he's Hollywood's new "it" boy and everyone else in the movie (Perry included) are just there to help prop him up, period.
4-15-2009 @ 12:42PM
Ana Maria said...
...what bothered me is that Thomas Lennon is not mentioned as appearing in the movie...
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4-15-2009 @ 9:26AM
eric f. said...
why is it that the first impression I get from this movie is that it's about and older guy who turns 17 again and bangs a bunch of high school chicks?
Seriously, though, I think it's such a joke that movies and tv series have people in their mid-late 20's playing high school kids.
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4-15-2009 @ 10:45AM
Jussup said...
Stupid looking movie... but what are you suggesting Bob? They couldn't exactly use the actual 17-year-old Matthew Perry to play the younger version. I don't understand your inane rant. Hate to break down the fourth wall for you but if they had used an unknown for Perry's role--Effron still wouldn't be a younger version of him--two whole different people. If you are going to waste your time with idiocy like this film try bringing in a slight bit of suspension of disbelief into the theater with you.
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4-15-2009 @ 4:08PM
christine said...
this is NOT a disney movie. sheesh, get your facts right people.
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