Review: 17 Again – A Classic 2000s Movie. (Spoilers)

I have watched a fair number of movies from the 2000s. Some of them are good, some are terrible (like Napoleon Dynamite), and in the case of rehashing basic plot lines, they can fall into either category. In the case of 17 Again, it’s one of those movies where, while it does rehash what seems like a pretty popular storyline in the 2000s, does it in a way that makes it its own.

The movie centers around Max, a teenager growing up in the 80s who’s one of the best players on his school basketball team. He has his life ahead of him, colleges are interested in taking him, and things seem good, until he finds out that he got his girlfriend pregnant. After finding out the news, he leaves everything behind, marries his girlfriend, and starts a family.

Fast forward 18 years, and Max is a middle-age man with two teenage kids, a dead-end job, and a wife who’s divorcing him. He’s going through a midlife crisis and wishes for the old days when he was in high school, and his wish is granted. He’s turned back into a 17-year-old, enrolls in his old high school with his best friend posing as his father, finds out more about his kids’ lives, and realizes that he was wrong in wanting to go back to the old days.

Overall, I think the movie is a good comedy, with an excellent lesson in being grateful for what you have. The entire thing is about teaching Max a lesson about looking at what’s actually important to him in his life – looking at the present rather than the past. In being transported back to an age where he didn’t have what he has as an adult, he learns to care more for his kids and his wife.

However, while the message of the movie is good and it’s a funny comedy, one of the things I was a little hung up on is the plot hole at the end. At the end of the movie, Max’s wife realizes who he is, he turns into an adult again, and they live happily ever after. While that ending is good and all, though, my question is what happened afterwards? After all, over the course of the movie, Max becomes friends with his son and helps him get on the basketball team, finds out his daughter has been sleeping with the school bully, and after his daughter gets dumped by said bully, she tries to hook up with him. Eventually, you would think that after his wife finds out, the kids would follow suit. It’s not a huge plot hole, but it is something that’s kinda weird, especially since he gets hired on as the school’s basketball coach by the principle who is now his best friend’s girlfriend, which would probably lead to some questions as well.

Basically, don’t think too hard about the logistics of the story.

Until next time,

M.J.