17 Again and Sherlock Holmes

17 Again is about as cliched as you might expect. And I still loved it.

17 Again is about a man who, having given up his chance at a scholarship in a sudden decision to run after his (just revealed to be) pregnant girlfriend, in what is, incidentally, an extremely well-played and directed scene, then holds it over her head for the next twenty years.

Seriously though, that scene's great. It assumes that the audience has seen the trailer, and so doesn't fuck about spelling out things we already know. It just jumps right in there, and it's just so clean and edgy...

In some ways, that scene could have been the end of another kind of film - and this is what happens after happy-ever-after. 37-year-old Mike O'Donnel, as played by Matthew Perry, is disappointed and miserable in his life, and he blames his wife for that. It's no wonder she's divorcing him.

His transformation back into a teenager is one of the most cliched things I've ever seen (complete with the wise old janitor), but the first meeting with his ex-best friend was funny, original and a bit insane (there was an axe and some lightsabers. It was awesome).

So far, I've only seen Zac Efron as Troy Bolton, the basketball-playing male lead of High School Musical. This role is, in some ways quite a departure from Disney. He says "douche" for a start. And his hair isn't stupid (at least, not until it gets slicked down again). Matthew Perry, I'm more familiar with as Chandler Bing.

Alright, I'll be honest here. I started writing this review about six months ago (maybe longer - how long has this film been out?), and I'd gotten as far as what's written above...and then I stopped. For no apparent reason.

I did get 17 Again on DVD for my birthday. The film could be described as, in many ways, bits of awesome interspered with plot. This is not a bad thing. That isn't to say that it isn't sweet and touching (it is). Just that light sabers, swords, basketballs and the word 'pwned' makes everything better. Everything.

Incidentally, I might be going to see Sherlock Holmes in a few weeks - it depends if Mattie gets his act together or not. You can view the trailer for it here.

I'm intrigued. I like the things they've included, like the boxing - canonically, Holmes is quite a good amateur boxer - and references to violin-playing at 3am. It's clear that someone involved has read the originals, and that's a start. I can live with the steampunk victorian streets, too. They're very shiny. There seems to be quite a lot of action in this, and while Holmes was quite fit, I seem to recall that he was rarely involved in direct fights. More often he was running away.

This brings me to Irene Adler. Although I do love Rachel McAdams, as I recall, Adler was a woman Holmes deeply respected because, yes, she did get the better of him. They certainly never kissed. Holmes was asexual. If they had to include a love story, why not Watson's? I found the description of how he met and married his first wife quite romantic, personally.

Speaking of Watson, Jude Law doesn't look like him. I realise that I may well be thinking of film portrayals of Watson, rather than the actual canon, so I'll let that one go. I'm also willing to give Robert Downey Jr a chance. The man is a fine actor, and he has much of the voice and manner of Holmes 'right' to my mind, even though I always pictured him as being rather thinner and better shaved.

I wonder if they're going to include the cocaine abuse, the shooting practice at the walls of their flat, or that time Holmes decided to beat up a corpse?