YMMV / 17 Again (2009)

• He Really Can Act: Zac Efron. He hasn't quite reached the respect he'll earn doing Neighbors (2014), but this is the movie that showed everyone that the former Disney Channel star had great comedic potential.
• Fridge Brilliance: Why is a middle-aged guy who used to play basketball in high school still so good? Because of how bad his life is, and how he looked back on high school as his glory days, it is entirely conceivable that he practiced every day. Not only that, but it's entirely probable that he played simply as a hobby.
• Harsher in Hindsight: Mike's transformation involves him falling off a bridge into water. This can be much harder to watch knowing Matthew Perry died in a drowning incident in late 2023.
• Older Than They Think: The film seems to be an unofficial remake of a little-known Disney film Young Again, starring Keanu Reaves. A middle-aged man named Michael Reilly laments his wasted youth and gets a visit from a mysterious old man who makes him 17 again. Most of the plot points, events, and characters are identical. Despite loosely cribbing the title from another older film, this movie is not a remake of 18 Again!, which involved a "Freaky Friday" Flip.
• Questionable Casting: While both performances are fine on their own, many viewers were baffled by the choice to cast Zac Efron as a younger version of Matthew Perry, given that the two actors have little to no resemblance between them.
• Squick: Maggie tries to seduce "Mark" at the house party after she's dumped by Stan. Though she doesn't know it herself, Mike and the viewer are fully aware that Maggie is actually his daughter, and Mike is clearly uncomfortable throughout the whole scene.
• Tear Jerker: When Mike reads Scarlet his "letter". Many agree it is no doubt the best scene of the film.
  "Scarlet, before you go through with this, I want to remind you of September 7th, 1988. It was the first time that I saw you. You were reading Less Than Zero, and you were wearing a Guns N' Roses t-shirt. I'd never seen anything so perfect. I remember thinking that I had to have you, or I'd die... then you whispered that you loved me at the homecoming dance, and I felt so peaceful... and safe... because I knew that no matter what happened, from that day on, nothing could ever be that bad... because I had you. And then I, uh... I grew up and I lost my way. And I blamed you for my failures. And I know that you think you have to do this today... but I don't want you to. But I guess... if I love you, I should let you move on."
• Unintentional Period Piece: The fashions, hairstyles, and technology instantly mark this as a late 2000s piece.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic:
  • Maggie. She pretends to listen to music as an excuse to ignore her father and has very little positive interaction with her family until the very end of the film. She knowingly dates the school's resident Jerk Jock and lets him into her house, despite her own brother being one of his most frequent victims. When said jock dumps her, Maggie tries to force herself on a nicer boy she's only just met (not knowing this boy is actually her own father) and immediately assumes that Mark is gay simply because he rejects her advances. She is also visibly bitter when it seems that Mark is attracted to her mother instead, giving the impression that she feels entitled to him.
    • A deleted scene, however, involving Stan getting detention after trying to attack Mark and hitting the principal, shows Maggie mentioning her brother "climbed in the washing machine" and "glued himself to the flagpole", suggesting she may not realize Stan is bullying Alex, though this would require her to be very oblivious.
  • Scarlet as well. She has a flourishing career in comparison to her husband's miserable one, which he chose against his dreams for her. Still, she refuses to tolerate him, throws him out of the house, destroys his possessions, and even celebrates his disappearance.

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