17 Again~!
When Weiyi asked me to watch 17 Again starring Zac Efron, I figured it would be like one of those High School Musical kind of movies with high school romance and cheesy song lyrics about love at first site. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised at how relevant the movie applied to me and how enjoyable it really was.
Matthew Perry stars too as the grown up version of Zac Efron (Mike) who in the movie, gives up a college scholarship by running off midway during a major basketball game in high school (much to the dismay of his coach and the talent scout) to catch up and kiss the love of his life, Scarlett, whom before the game had actually admitted to him that she was pregnant.
If I were 17 and my girlfriend had just said that, I would be very afraid. Very! Technically, my life would be fucked wouldn't it? But love prevails and he asked Scarlett to marry him. The end.
Well not quite, if we all could survive on love, we wouldn't need jobs would we? Well, zoom in 20 years later, Mike is a disgruntled man who just lost his promotion in sales to a sweet hot young thing and has basically been blaming and angry at his wife, the adult Scarlett and foxy Leslie Mann, for holding him back all these years.
So yada yada, after feeling depressed, he goes back to his high school and meets a janitor whom I supposed is God, the devil or the genie from Ali Baba, and is aptly asked "Would you do it all over again if you had the chance?" To keep the story going Mike of course says "Yes!"
So while driving home he falls into a ditch and is transformed once again to the young and charismatic 17 year old version of himself and decides to enroll himself in high school to fulfill his dreams and then later realise that his destiny for going back to high school was to actually help his constantly bullied son and troubled daughter.
I liken Zac Efron's screen charisma to Leonardo Di Caprio's charisma when he first appeared on screens for girls to swoon. The purposely thought out scenes featuring his dance moves, sporty image and cheeky side seemed kinda cheesy but hey! This kid's got screen presence! Well at least if you were in the demographic of 13-17.
The sexual tension between the young Mike and adult Scarlett was really the highlight of the show though. The awkward moments seeing a teenager dancing with a cougar like Leslie MAnn (always been a fan!). Her inappropriate attraction to a younger boy just seems so sexy to me. Haha!