The next school comedy “Papa again 17” (actors: Zac Efron, Leslie Mann, Thomas Lennon, Matthew Perry, Sterling Knight) should not be accepted as a traditional teenage film, designed for a narrow audience - young fans of the current favorite of the Disney studio. Despite the fact that the first episode practically copies the first scene of one of the most successful franchises “Cool Musical”, the target audience of the picture will consist of representatives of different social and age layers of society. This was taken care of by the creators who, with the further development of the plot, conveyed nostalgic greetings from the 80s - added the characteristic features of the subgenre of “body swap movie” (films about exchanging bodies). Such a move will surely attract former fans of paintings that have already become classics of the genre, such as the fantastic comedy “Big” with Tom Hanks.
Share of sound madness
The fears of film critics that the brainchild of director Burr Steers at the exit will turn into a mix of a typical youth comedy about a school with a typical picture of a midlife crisis, fortunately, did not materialize. The authors, making the film “Papa again 17”, successfully circumvented many cinematic cliches boldly enough - they saturated the plot action with a certain amount of sound madness. As a result, the humor of the film is funny, sometimes original. Screenwriter Jason Filardi subtly walked around the entire script of the film “Papa Again 17” (the actors received the text already verified), without slipping into banalism, but without resorting to outright madness.
Plot description
The most popular youth of the school, Mike O'Donnell (Zac Efron), the star of the school basketball team, is looking forward to the decisive match of the championship, because according to its results, the question of receiving a scholarship for admission to college will be decided. But just a few minutes before the start of the fateful game, the main character finds out that his girlfriend Scarlett (Leslie Mann) is pregnant. The guy sacrifices his career and decides to marry her. As a result, after 20 years of marriage, he turns from a handsome athlete into a loser with office shortness of breath, bald patches and a belly (adult Mike is played by Matthew Perry). The family life of the couple does not go well, the spouses are constantly in conflict, and things are steadily moving towards divorce. Mike, periodically regretting "ruined youth", once meets a strange "Santa Claus". He returns the hero to his young 17-year-old body. Rejuvenated Mike (again Zac Efron) falls into the very school that his native children attend - son Alex (Sterling Knight) and daughter Maggie (Michelle Trachtenberg). Mike has a unique chance to restore order in his family and life.
Casting cast
Impeccable acting is one of the “whales” on which the entire comedy “Pope Again 17” rests. Actors: M. Perry, T. Lennon, M. Trachtenberg, L. Mann, M. Hardin, S. Knight, Z. Efron - and other participants in the casting deserve all praise. Russian dubbing is also worthy of applause. But the picture would not be half so funny if it were not for the participation of Thomas Lennon and his wonderful character - Ned Gold. According to the unwritten laws of the genre, the main character always has a faithful friend / ally / assistant, not so beautiful, but certainly loyal, faithful and funny. This time this character is smart, he is a real IP genius with decent financial capabilities, a real fan of computer games and the epic of Star Wars. In addition, he learns the Elven language, for the most part he is in a euphoric state, manages to fall in love with the director. This charismatic character instantly gains audience sympathy.
Not without stamps
No matter how hard the creators and participants of the comedy “Papa Again 17” tried: actors, film crew and screenwriter with director - but still some of the cliches of youth comedies about school could not be circumvented. These details do not build the plot, but they are striking to the avid movie fan, although they are an addition to the main action. If we take into account that the film does not contain even a bit of vulgar humor and hackneyed jokes, then we can say with confidence: this work is one of the best in its genre and thematic focus. The project did not have enough smallness to step beyond the generally recognized framework of the genre and become an independent and self-sufficient film.
With nostalgia, but not without posturing
The authors of the film, not hiding nostalgia for their own youth, put their own photographs from their school albums in the final credits of the movie - this touches. The posturing on which the predominant number of modern youth comedies is built, although it is present in the film, is not annoying. Even if the movie by Berr Steers did not become a nugget, and you can’t call it a landmark project, it’s still a very high-quality comedy in which posturing pleases the soul. It can be safely recommended for viewing to all, without exception, lovers of family, kind, sincere and real comedy films.