Main Cast: Tia Mowry, Tamera Mowry, Tahj Mowry, Robert Hooks, Hope Clarke
Release Year: 2000
Country: US
Run Time: 105 minutes
Plot
While twin sisters Tia Mowry and Tamera Mowry gained fame playing twin sisters on the sitcom Sister Sister, this comic fantasy finds them stretching their talents by playing grandmother and granddaughter. When the Donovan family moves from California to Connecticut, 17-year-old Sydney (Tia Mowry) finds it's not easy being in a new town away from her old friends, but her 12-year-old genius brother Willie (Tahj Mowry) is happy as long as he can tinker in his lab with his increasingly complex experiments. Willie is convinced he can defeat the aging process, and while devising an experimental anti-aging formula, he accidentally spills some on a bar of soap. When his grandmother Cat (Hope Clarke) mistakenly uses the tainted soap, she's transformed into a 17-year-old (Tamera Mowry). Her husband Gene (Robert Hooks) follows suit, and is also returned to his teenaged self (Mark Taylor). Cat and Gene are having a fine time reliving their youth and enjoying the thrill of teenage romance, but there's a fly in the ointment -- Willie learns his formula could have deadly side effects, and now he must discover an antidote to return his grandparents to their older but healthy bodies. Seventeen Again also features an appearance by popular vocal group Boyz II Men; one of the group's singers, Shawn Stockman, served as executive producer for the project. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Hope Clarke - Grandma Cat; Phil Jarrett; Tonya Lee Williams - Monique; Mark Taylor - Teenaged Grandpa Gene; Maia Campbell - Ashley; Boyz II Men - Themselves
Credit
Resa McConaghy - Costume Designer, Jeff Byrd - Director, Jeff Cooper - Editor, Robert Halmi, Jr. - Executive Producer, Shawn Stockman - Executive Producer, Sharhonda Jones - Executive Producer, Darlene Mowry - Executive Producer, Christopher Franke - Composer (Music Score), Shawn Stockman - Composer (Music Score), Doug McCullough - Production Designer, John Tarver - Cinematographer, Stuart St.John - Producer, Brandon Bates - Producer
This article is about the 2000 Showtime film. For the 2009 film starring Zac Efron, see 17 Again (film). For the song by Eurythmics, see 17 Again (song).
Seventeen Again is a romantic-family dramedy film. It was released by Showtime on November 12, 2000, and on DVD on April 9, 2002. The film was rated PG when it was released on DVD for brief language. It was filmed on location in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Teenager Sydney Donovan (Tia Mowry) lives with her brother, Willie Donovan (Tahj Mowry), their father and stepmother. Willie concocts strange experiments while Sydney tries to live the life of a normal, if slightly unpopular, teenager. When one of Willie's experiments goes haywire, ooze contaminates a box of soap that is later used by Sydney and Willie's grandparents, Cat (Hope Clarke) and Gene (Robert Hooks). The two are like cat and dog because of something that happened in the past. The next day, the grandparents awake to realize they have turned into teenagers - they are seventeen again. Cat and Gene (now portrayed by Tamera Mowry and Mark Taylor) try out life as seventeen year olds in the new millennium, and often, Cat is mistaken for her granddaughter, Sydney, due to the fact that they look identical...for the time being. Gene and Cat try to relive their lives. Unfortunately, the contaminated soap did not come without consequenses. Willie discovers that the soap has toxic chemicals that will eventually hurt the grandparents. He rushes to find a cure while Sydney tries to pull her life together. While at the school dance, Cat collapses and Willie rushes to the school with the cure. Willie tosses his concoction into the pool and the grandparents jump in. They are transformed back to their 67 year-old selves.
School scenes in the movie were filmed at Eastern High School in Toronto, Canada.
R&B group Boyz II Men make a musical cameo in this film as group member Shawn Stockman is one of the film's producers.
The following lines and/or scenes are cut or edited on Disney Channel:
The close up of the soap bottle when Sidney is making it at work is cut
Ashley's line "I am class president! Class icon! Monarch High It Girl! For God's sake. You know that." is edited to just "I am class president! You know that."
The scene of Grandma Cat taking her medicine is cut.
Sydney's health class is cut.
During the conversation between Gene and Cat, when they first see each other after their transformation, two things are cut. The first is Gene touching himself the second time after telling Cat to feel his muscles. The second is the three times that Gene and Cat say "Booty."
The scene where Gene is trying to get through to Terrence and Leo while they are playing the video game is shortened. Cutting out Terrance and Leo's discussion about from where to order food.
After Julie's phone call with Sidney, she gets a call from someone asking for Dionne Warwick. This scene is cut.
When Willie is riding his dirt bike to Sydney's school, and car swerves out of the way to avoid hitting him. This part is cut.
