Author - Burr Steers(director)
Release Date - April 17, 2009
Plot - Michael O'Donnell has a problem with his life. It seems to be careening out of control before he knows it. His wife is separating him; he is stuck in a dead end job; and he is forced to move in with his nerdy best friend. He feels like his whole life took a shift when he was seventeen when he decided to marry his girlfriend instead of pursuing his basketball dreams because his girlfriend became pregnant. He ends up getting a second chance of sorts with a magical encounter with a janitor who transforms him to the age of 17 again. He decides to go for his basketball dreams but along the way ends up connecting with his own kids in a meaningful way as they are struggling with relationships and self esteem issues. Through them he ends up connecting with his wife.
Comic implications ensue as his daughter starts to fall in love with him (a weird Back to the Future role reversal), and he finds that he still has a passion for the woman that he decided to marry all that time ago when he was in high school. The question becomes, is he too late? Has life already passed him by? Or can he go back and fix things because he has come to realize that the one decision, was the best decision of his life.
Critical Review - An often copied tale of a person who seems to be at a crossroads in their life, wanting to go back and relive a portion of their former glory. Like many in the genre, some magical event transpires and gives them the opportunity to see this through. While some pick the route of taking the person back to the past, 17 again merely transforms the person into the age at which he felt like his life spiralled out of control. I was surprised at the depth of character that was displayed by Zac Efron, the 17 year old version of the male lead. There was a remarkable amount of emotion expressed in his eyes, and he did not overplay his role as the younger version of Michael O'Donnell. Michelle Trachtenberg, of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame, plays the lost teenage daughter, who seems to need to have a stronger father role in her life. She plays up the comic situations quite well, while transferring her affections from the high school bully to her unknowing(and now 17 year old) dad. Overall, it was lighthearted but meaningful fair that I can imagine a teen audience would appreciate while still maintaining the interest of their parents.
Annotation - What was the one decision in your life that you wish you could take back? Would you live it all over again to get the chance? Michael O'Donnell did and he is not sure whether he had made the best or worst decision of his life.
About the author - Burr Steers had an interesting life as his family history would suggest. His father was a Republican congressman from Maryland, while his mother was the daughter of a socialite and a lawyer. She would eventually divorce his father and get remarried having another brother in that marriage as well as five step-siblings. His relatives read like a whose who list with people like Aaron Burr, Thomas Jefferson's Vice President and man who shot Alexander Hamilton, Gore Vidal, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis as well as Oliver Burr Jennings, the creator of Standard Oil. One can imagine the social and political pressure to be something big in this family. This may have been too much pressure as he ended up being expelled from two separate schools.
Eventually, proving that you can overcome anything, Steers would get his GED and move on to New York University. Out of which he got involved in various film productions including Pulp Fiction and Gore Vidal's Billy the Kid. 17 Again was his second major piece in the director's chair.
Genre- Film, Comedy, Coming of Age
Curriculum Ties - Discuss coming of age stories in class such as Huck Finn. Compare and contrast how alike and different these coming of age stories are. - Literature
Booktalking Ideas - N/A
Reading Level/Interest Age - Grade 9+
Challenge Issues - Scene of sexual interest with 17 year old Michael O'Donnell and his older wife is slightly awkward and maybe considered gross.
Challenge Overcoming - Focus on intent of the story and that it still is Michael O'Donnell despite the appearance, for the sake of the movie.
Why Included - Zac Effron is a very popular film actor and somewhat of a teen heart throb especially since he was involved in the High School Musical set of movies for the Disney Channel. I enjoyed this movie and its complexity of interweaving teenage themes with adult issue.
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