Teen-friendly ‘17 Again’ stars capable Zac Efron

As a remake of “It’s a Wonderful Life” or “Back to the Future,” the movies it borrows from most heavily, the relive-your-senior-year comedy “17 Again” falls a little short of the mark.

But as a funny, sweet and smart star vehicle tailored for Zac “High School Musical” Efron, it’s right on the money.

It’s a teen-friendly comedy built on the hazards of unsafe high school sex, the life you live wondering “What could I have become?” had contraception or the A-word been an option at 17 – pretty edgy fare for a guy known for his bangs, his dance moves and his dubbed singing voice.

Efron ably struts his stuff as Mike, the star basketball player, King of Hayden High, who got his girlfriend pregnant and grew up into a bitter, resentful adult (Matthew Perry). Adult Mike is divorcing the mother of his children (Leslie Mann), hasn’t connected with those kids in years and needs reminding why he made the choices he made, way back when.

A janitor-guardian angel (Brian Doyle-Murray) hurls him back into his 17-year-old self, into high school with his own kids (Michelle Trachtenberg and Sterling Knight). That’s where the whiny Mike faces his responsibilities — the daughter making poor choices, the secretly bullied son who needs a male role model.

Director Burr Steer (“Igby Goes Down”) gives this just enough edge. Sure, there’s the nerdy sidekick who grew up to be a rich nerdy sidekick (Thomas Lennon of “Reno 911,” hilarious in every scene he’s in), the confront-the-bully bit and obligatory teen party.

But there’s a whole daughter-might-be-hot-for- teen-dad “Back to the Future” riff, and the fact that the adult wife is both drawn to and repulsed by her son’s new “friend,” the kid who looked “just like my husband” back in the day.

Efron sells the kid-playing-adult values stuff amusingly, turning sex-ed class (with teacher Margaret Cho) into an abstinence lecture aimed at his daughter-classmate.

But it’s the sweet touch that works – the married couple trying, for once, “not to hold each other back,” the kids who need a peer who knows the psychology of the creep who is dating the daughter and picking on the son.

The movie doesn’t work out how 1989 teens could have reproduced a daughter who is still only 16 today. But “17 Again” is a comically responsible way for Efron to leave his teen roles behind and make his teen audience think about the adult decisions they now face.

For times and locations, see page C6.