Zac Efron graduates from "High School Musical" into real comedy

Young Zac Efron's job in "17 Again" is to dominate a film that already features formidable comic talent from an older crowd, most of it from television — Matthew Perry ("Friends"), Thomas Lennon ("Reno 911!"), Melora Hardin ("The Office") — and, from the movies, Leslie Mann ("Knocked Up").

Just as he proved to be funny, versatile and quite effective as a host and sketch player on last week's "Saturday Night Live," Efron sets the overall tone of "17 Again" with self-effacing charm backed up by solid acting chops. If one of his objectives in making this PG-13 comedy is to ease himself out of strict association with Disney's "High School Musical" franchise, he succeeds in the same way Michael J. Fox transcended the "Family Ties" sitcom with "Back to the Future."

"17 Again" itself is far from perfect. One senses the filmmakers chose to hedge their bets by giving too much screen time to Lennon — who plays a wealthy, "Star Wars"-obsessed geek — in the event Efron didn't come through. The result is lumpy and irritating, but "17 Again" regroups whenever Efron is back on screen.

Leaning on an old body-switching Hollywood formula (anybody remember George Burns in "18 Again!"?), "17 Again" stars Perry as Mike, a midlife sad sack who feels unrewarded as an employee, husband and father. Magical intervention turns him back into his younger self (Efron), a high-school basketball star, albeit in the present.

Young Mike enrolls in his kids' (Michelle Trachtenberg, Sterling Knight) rowdy school so he can watch over them and discover some realities about teen life he was previously too obtuse to see. The earnest but comically nimble script by Jason Filardi deals with predictable ironies (Mike is a better dad as a same-age peer) and conflicts (Trachtenberg's unsuspecting character grows attracted to the hot new boy in school).

Director Burr Steers ("Igby Goes Down") does well to match Perry's and Efron's line readings and emotions.

But the most memorable scenes pair Efron and Mann. The latter plays the elder Mike's estranged wife, who finds in young Mike the qualities she once saw in her husband and has long missed. The awkwardness of their mutual attraction (which never becomes anything uncomfortable to watch) is so sweet and sincere as to be genuinely moving.

Tom Keogh: tomwkeogh@yahoo.com