While I'm still rolling around my thoughts on Adventureland, which Ashley and I finally watched on Blu-ray the other night, I thought of 17 Again, another movie I missed in theaters that is rooted in formative nostalgia. As I said in the Roundup from a couple weeks back, "the best explanation I have for why this movie works reasonably well is that Thomas Lennon is one of the most talented comedians living or dead, and they kept the plot relatively simple."
I've seen some whinings online from people who feel like this movie is some sort of remake-by-another-name of Big, which it isn't at all. It's the same type of conceit, yes, but it's a different animal. Big and Freaky Friday do not own the Age Displacement Comedy genre. I'm not on board with the possible interpretation that knocking up your high school girlfriend and marrying her will lead to total happiness after some bumps in the road.
Zac Efron is frequently dissed by the fanboy crowd, and undeservedly I might add. When everyone sees him in Me and Orson Welles this fall, we'll hopefully see some proper notice for his depth of range. There's an auto-play trailer on this disc for that movie, which I hope signals that Warner Bros. has picked it up (one could only assume as much) and that they are in fact pushing it for awards. Ah, but I digress.
I found 17 Again to be one of the more enjoyable and efficient studio movies I've seen this year, and it resists the option to condescend. On top of that, it has some of the best-done and creepiest incest prevention humor this side of Star Wars. It's worth giving a chance.
The Blu-ray includes the becoming-ubiquitous Digital Copy along with some 13 Deleted Scenes [HD 16:05], a pop-up Trivia Track, and a small pile of featurettes that play on Zac Efron's first name the way a high school bully might. Zac Goes Back [HD 12:32] is the making-of/behind the scenes piece, Going Back to 17 [HD 3:13] covers what cast members remember from being 17, Breakin' Character Outtakes [HD 3:24] are just that, and Zac's Dance Flashback [HD 2:10] covers a dance sequence that was shot but later cut. Exclusive BD-Live extras include two more featurettes, Zac Attacks [HD/SD 2:56], which is about the fight between Efron and Lennon, and Tom Lennon & Melora Hardin: Unfiltered [HD/SD 3:04], which is mostly just behind the scenes shenanigans between the two. For the life of me, I could not find the "Zac's Commentary" that's listed on the box after twenty minutes of searching.
The Blu-ray & DVD hit the street on 8/11.