17 AGAIN....again

Yes,he is actually spinning a basketball on his pinkie.

Starring Zac Effron,Matthew Perry, and Tom Lennon

Here's what saves this very old idea and makes it fresh again,this movie never ever takes itself too seriously and at points,even pokes fun at the notion of the age old story about people switching bodies.After said switch occurs,the characters pour over dozens of books and stories based on the phenomena and try to determine which of the many kinds that it is, that they are dealing with.Well played.
Redundant story aside,the real story here is the supporting cast involved.Thomas Lennon of Reno 911 fame plays the leads best friend and is simply hilarious in some of the scenes here.Zac Effron even turns in a fair leading performance and managed to actually capture some of Matthew perry's now iconic idiosyncrasies.But he also plays basketball and dances.You gotta go with what brought you to the dance I suppose.
All in all,this is a fairly innocuous movie and covers no new ground,however,the laughs come in bunches and the story is heartfelt in the end.One particular moment that had me laughing out loud was towards the end of the film when Effron's character gets slapped roughly 10 times in a span of 2 minutes and you honestly cant help but feel for the guy in real life because you just know deep down that all of the actors involved must have felt bad,due to the authenticity of each slap.Its almost as if the director told them to make each slap worse than the last.It gave me a new found respect for Effron.I would now have his back in a bar fight.That's something I would have never said after watching any of the High School Musicals.O.K you got me,Ive never seen a High School Musical movie.
Another point that sort of makes fun of itself here too,is the all too familiar problem of casting 21 year olds to play teenagers.This movie doesn't even seem to care to hide that fact.The bad guy in this one is the school bully with the big neck tattoo and there are other basketball players with tattoo's as well.These aren't the token fake ones to make the bad guy look tougher either.Just a bunch of old dudes playing teens.It was kinda refreshing to just let that hang out there almost defiantly in a sense.
All in all,there are worse ways to spend an hour and a half and you might just get a chuckle or two.

Rating 2 1/2 Light Sabres out of 5,again,these ratings are funnier after you see the flicks.