Despite having a title that reminds us of that George Burns-Charlie Schlatter role-reversal movie from the ‘80s, 17 Again is not in fact part of the body swap genre. Rather, it’s more like Peggy Sue Got Married without the time travel. It’s also like a backwards Big, a movie many people mistakenly assign to the genre, which more technically includes such classics as The Hot Chick, Dream a Little Dream and Like Father Like Son. Of course, age-swapping films like Big, 13 Going on 30 and now 17 Again share many conventions and clichés with body swapping movies, so aligning them with that genre’s films is not entirely a film classification no-no.
Most familiar body swap movies owe their basic plot structure to F. Anstey’s 1882 novel Vice Versa: A Lesson to Fathers, which is, yes, the source material behind the 1988 movie starring Fred Savage and Judge Reinhold, as well as the basis for four other, prior film adaptations and a short-lived TV series. Even the three movie versions of Freaky Friday are more akin to Anstey’s story than the Mary Rodgers’ novel on which they’re based. In a way, because of the lesson learned in 17 Again, this new movie is also reminiscent of Anstey’s novel, even if not in a walking-in-someone-else’s-shoes sort of method.
But are there any other similarities to the body swap genre? You decide. While watching 17 Again this weekend, be on the look out for any of the clichés of the body swap movie, which we illustrate below, in order to determine its closeness to the classification. …Read more
By now I’m sure you’ve heard that former ’80s teen-movie star John Cusack will star in Roland Emmerich’s apocalypse spectacular 2012. Considering the blockbuster filmmaker has previously directed the likes of James Spader (in Stargate) and Matthew Broderick (in Godzilla), I figure it’s only a matter of time before he’s worked with all our favorite ’80s teen-movie actors. So, here’s a list of the next ten actors most appropriate for Emmerich to cast:
Kirk Cameron - The former star of TV’s Growing Painsand the ’80s flick Like Father, Like Son has more recently starred in the Christian-targeted Left Behindmovies, which, in dealing with the Rapture, fit in with Emmerich’s usual penchant for end-of-the-world scenarios. Considering his pro-creationist stance, he probably wasn’t a fan of Emmerich’s recent caveman epic and his Evangelical status means he probably disagrees with the climate change message of The Day After Tomorrow. Too bad, because seeing Mike Seaver in a big-budget action extravaganza would be awesome. …Read more
This past Saturday, former Growing Pains teen idol Kirk Cameron participated in a debate about the existence of God. Now, it’s even less my place than his to comment on either the Christian or the atheist point of view, but the event did make me think of a serious debate that I was once involved in: the existence of Hoverboards. I knew they didn’t exist, but a friend of mine was certain they did. No, he’s not stupid; in his defense it was widely rumored that they had been invented and were to be released in conjunction with Back to the Future II. Apparently the rumor began when Robert Zemeckis joked that the wheel-less skateboards were real — at least that’s what Kirk Cameron says happened, in this clip from “The Secrets of the Back to the Future Trilogy.” Thanks to Kirk Cameron, I won my debate. I have no idea if he won his own or not. Anyway, this is one of my favorite videos of all time (available in the DVD box set of the trilogy), and I couldn’t resist making it my clip of the day. For my other choice, you can check out this other clip, which like BTTF features Christopher Lloyd, and like the clip I’ve chosen features a former child star, and it shows the reversal of what happens to Amy Adams in this week’s new release, Enchanted, which is unfortunately on my mind today. Aren’t you glad, I chose Kirk Cameron instead?
We’ve had a bit of trouble getting this episode to go through the iTunes feed, so we hope this re-post will fix the problem. The original post, with episode description and embedded player, is here.
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By now I’m sure you’ve heard that former ’80s teen-movie star John Cusack will star in Roland Emmerich’s apocalypse spectacular 2012. Considering the blockbuster filmmaker has previously directed the likes of James Spader (in Stargate) and Matthew Broderick (in Godzilla), I figure it’s only a matter of time before he’s worked with all our favorite ’80s teen-movie actors. So, here’s a list of the next ten actors most appropriate for Emmerich to cast:
