ShareThisMoms and daughters, dads and sons, grandpas and grandsons, wealthy invalids and their lawyers, and adults and their adolescent selves have all done the old switcheroo, courtesy of the movies. The new comedy "17 Again," starring Zac Efron and Matthew Perry, is the latest to dabble in this device.
Others in the genre:
-- "Freaky Friday" (1976) -- A harried suburban mom and her skateboarding, gum-chewing daughter magically exchange identities for a day in this Disney comedy starring Barbara Harris and a young Jodie Foster. It inspired a remake almost three decades later.
-- "All of Me" (1984) -- Lily Tomlin is a wealthy, dying invalid who arranges to have her soul transferred into the body of her stable-keeper's beautiful daughter. But it accidentally winds up in her lawyer, played by Steve Martin. He couldn't stand her alive and really detests her when she takes partial control of his body.
-- "Back to the Future" (1985) -- Michael J. Fox is a teen from the '80s who travels back in time, courtesy of a kooky scientist played by Christopher Lloyd. In the 1950s, he meets the teens destined to become his parents, in this crowd-pleaser that launched a trilogy, a Universal Studios ride and a catch phrase.
-- "Like Father, Like Son" (1987) -- Dudley Moore is a widowed surgeon living with his son, played by Kirk Cameron. When Dad inadvertently consumes a "brain-transferring serum" (yes, really), he lands in his teen's skin and the boy vaults into the doc's body.
-- "Vice Versa" (1988) -- Judge Reinhold is a divorced retailing executive at a Chicago department store and Fred Savage plays his 11-year-old son. Dad begins to realize what a lousy father he has been when a magical skull from Thailand causes him to change places with the boy.
-- "18 Again" (1988) -- George Burns is an 81-year-old who wishes to be 18 again. After a song, the simultaneous blowing out of birthday candles with his 18-year-old grandson (Charlie Schlatter) and a traffic accident, his wish is granted. As his stooped, octogenarian body lies in a coma, his soul surfaces in his grandson's trim, youthful shape.
-- "Big" (1988) -- This charmer is about a 12-year-old who visits a carnival wishing machine and wakes up in a 35-year-old's body. Whether furnishing his apartment with great toys or befuddling the woman who falls for him, Tom Hanks taps into childhood innocence in such a brilliant way that "Big" set the standard for the genre.
-- "Dream a Little Dream" (1989) -- Jason Robards and Piper Laurie are octogenarian lovers whose souls are set loose during a dream experiment in the back yard. They end up in teen characters played by Corey Feldman and Meredith Salenger in this incoherent head-scratcher.
-- "Switch" (1991) -- A dead womanizer is refused entrance to heaven until he completes an earthbound mission in the body of a woman in this Blake Edwards comedy starring Ellen Barkin, Jimmy Smits and Lorraine Bracco.
-- "Prelude to a Kiss" (1992) -- Alec Baldwin and Meg Ryan star in the film version of Craig Lucas' prize-winning play about the immortality of true love. When a bride is kissed by a gate-crashing sickly old man, they inexplicably switch souls.
-- "The Hot Chick" (2002) -- Rob Schneider is a teen-age girl living in a man's body in this comedy that draws upon cross-dressing and confusion to solicit laughs. It starts with a pretty cheerleader (Rachel McAdams) and a set of Abyssinian earrings with magical powers.
-- "Freaky Friday" (2003) -- Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan are widowed mother and 15-year-old daughter who swap places after receiving the same fortune at a Chinese restaurant. What baby boomer won't enjoy the moment when the mother realizes that she can have french fries, because the teen-age body can handle them?
-- "13 Going on 30" (2004) -- In 1987, Jenna Rink (Christa B. Allen) turns 13 but longs to be "30, flirty and thriving," just like the women in her favorite magazine. After a disastrous birthday party and some wailing and wishing, she wakes up 30 ... and now played by a winning Jennifer Garner.
(Pittsburgh Post-Gazette movie editor Barbara Vancheri can be reached at bvancheri(at)post-gazette.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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