17 Again (2009)

In 1985 Michael J. Fox went back in time to find himself coping with his then-teenage parents; in 1988 Tom Hanks grew Big overnight, from 12-year-old to adult; in 2004 13-year-old Christa B. Allen made a wish to be an adult and woke up as 30-year-old Jennifer Garner. This spring 37-year-old Matthew Perry wishes he was young again - and to his surprise (with the help of an elf disguised as an old janitor of his school) turns into 17-year-old Zac Efron.

Mike O'Donnell (Perry/Efron) was a brilliant basket ball player in high school, who had a wonderful career in front of him as a professional player. But as destiny has a habit of messing with things, his girlfriend Scarlett (young Allison Miller / adult Leslie Mann) informs him they have fooled around with unsafe sex and that she's pregnant. Mike gives up his own dreams and marries the girl and raises a family.

At the age of 37 Mike is frustrated, depressed man whose family life is getting ruined because of his constant self pity. Scarlett wants a divorce and Mike is forced to move to live with his best friend Ned (Thomas Lennon) - a software developer, rich guy and a grown up fanboy living in a house full of memorabilia from Star Wars and Lord of the Rings.

When Mike does not get the promotion at work that he was so waiting for, he thinks everything is over. He goes to his old school (where his own kids now go to school) and sees his glory in the 20 years old photograph. Suddenly an old janitor (Brian Doyle-Murray) asks him if he would want to be young again. Mike says yes, of course, and suddenly he's turned into his 17-year-old self - but current time, not by going back in time.

A lightsaber duel is needed for his friend Ned to believe who he really is, and agrees to pretend to be his father when he goes attending the school again. In school Mike becomes friends with his own son and discovers the lives of his children are not as good as one might think, and starts helping them out.

Adult Scarlett is amazed by how his son's new friend looks so much like her old husband, and feels strangely attracted to the young boy. As does the boy towards Scarlett.

Does Mike manage to fix his children's lives? Does he stay 17 forever? Does he become a big basket ball hero? Does Scarlett get her divorce? - See for yourself!

Much of the movie's appeal rests on Efron's young shoulders: without his charisma and very unique "presence" the movie would be much duller. But he makes the movie an enjoyment. 17 again is very harmless Hollywood comedy that does not really bring anything new to the genre, but it is very well done, the story works and the actors are really good. Well, imagining cute Efron becoming a boring looking Perry is not that fun, and I don't understand why on earth Perry was cast as adult Mike.

The supporting cast, especially Lennon as Mike's weird friend Ned and his love interest, the school's principal Jane Masterson (Melora Hardin) make some extremely fun scenes, for example during their first dinner together. Recommended to fanboys and -girls ;-)

If you want to see a well made, but totally harmless feel good movie, 17 again is a good option. It gives a few laughs, but performs it's humour in a thoughtful manner. Some overacting is of course visible, but not so much it would ruin the entertainment. And the story has a warm heart.

Directed by Burr Steers
Written by Jason Filardi

Cast Zac Efron, Leslie Mann, Thomas Lennon, Matthew Perry, Michelle Trachtenberg, Sterling Knight, Melora Hardin

IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0974661/

12 Rounds (2009)

Renny Harlin is one of the most well known Finnish movie directors outside Finland. There is of course the more critically acclaimed Aki Kaurismäki who has got credit with many of his films in especially European film festivals, but Harlin is the one who is making bigger budget movies for larger audiences. And as a fellow Finn I respect Harlin's hard work, and I have liked a lot his action packed Long kiss goodnight starring Geena Davis and Samuel L. Jackson as well as Die Hard 2.

12 Rounds feels as if it was Harlin's Die Hard 3. The story is almost the same as in John McTiernan's action sequel: detective Danny Fisher (WWE Champion John Cena) makes a crime lord Miles Jackson (Aidan Gillen) angry and he creates Danny a 12-step-game he must solve in a given time frame. If he does not manage, Miles will kill his kidnapped girlfriend Molly (Ashley Scott).

Danny is not given much time to think and he must act constantly. If 21 Rounds does not give much time for the lead actor to breathe, it does not do that even to the viewer. The action is very fast, and it keeps the adrenaline levels high up. Sometimes this works, but in this case not.

I personally was burdened with the Die Hard 3-load - addidentally seen it on blu-ray the night before seeing 12 Rounds in theatre. I did not know the synopsis of 12 Rounds beforehand, and it stroke me by surprise how similar these two stories were. And how different in the way they were composed: Die Hard 3 has a lot of breathtaking action but the action is compensated with the witty, dark humour Bruce Willis is so capable of, and that makes it such a great entertainment for action lovers. In 12 Rounds the humour is all gone and the action and the story overall are trying to be so very serious that it gets boring in the end.

Harlin is using a lot what seems like a hand held camera and really fast cuts. Normally the shaking camera does not bother me (I had no problems in watching Cloverfield for example), but in this case I was having serious trouble in being able to actually watch the movie because of the fast movement.

No matter how much I wanted to like this movie, no matter that Harlin was again using his trademark of showing something Finnish in his movies, no matter how much I love action movies... I did not like 12 Rounds and unfortunately it made it's way to the worst movie experience of this year in my list so far. I'm sorry fellow Finn Harlin.



Directed by Renny Harlin
Written by Daniel Kunka
Cast John Cena, Aidan Gillen, Ashley Scott, Steve Harris
IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1160368/