17 Again isn’t ground-breaking cinema. The film has a predictable body-shifting premise and a heavy dose of sentimentality. Yet its stroll through familiar territory isn’t necessarily a mortal sin.

Surprisingly, the movie has both amusing and endearing qualities, and far surpasses its sub-par expectations. There are laugh-out-loud scenes — especially with Ned and the principal — and scenes with enough sincere romance to bring a tear to the eye.

The movie stars both (Zac Efron) as Mike O’Donnell, a young man who in 1989 was the star of his basketball team. Mike seems to have it all…skills, popularity, a beautiful girlfriend and a bright future in sports. Just before the big game, where his coach tells him that there are major college scouts there checking him out, Mike learns that his girlfriend Scarlett (Alison Miller) is pregnant. Rather than play in the game he leaves in order to tell her that he’s sticking with her and they’re going to get married and have the baby together.

Skip to twenty years later, and we learn that Mike’s life hasn’t turned out quite as well as he’d hoped. He’s become a loser (Matthew Perry), working at the same company for sixteen years and estranged from Scarlett (Leslie Mann) and his children Alex (Sterling Knight) and Maggie (Michelle Trachtenberg). He’s living with his long-time best friend, a geeky software tycoon named Ned (Thomas Lennon) who displays his nerd credentials all around his house with star wars and lord of the rings memorabilia. When he gets passed over for a promotion and the resulting confrontation with his boss costs him his job, Mike finds himself back at his old high school where he tells a janitor (Brian Doyle-Murray) that he wishes he could live it all over again.

Of course, he gets his wish through a series of bizarre circumstance and decides to enrol in high school to get another chance at life and help his kids, including helping Alex get on the basketball score the girl of his dreams (Josie Lopez) and get Maggie away from her jerk of a boyfriend Stan (Hunter Parrish). But can he manage to put his own life back together in time before Scarlett completes their divorce???

In a light hearted way “17 Again” is about the choices we make in life and how we foster greatness for the ones we love.

So, yeah, ‘17 Again’, fairly well written, hilarious, well and sometimes greatly acted and awesome direction for the most part, and a genuinely good, enjoyable and moving film. Take a look and you’ll probably be surprised… but don’t go in hoping for anything Oscar worthy. I get the impression there is only so much a director can do with a film like ‘17 Again’ and he did it alright.