18 Again! (1988)

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

I love this film! It is a fun, playful film that is great for a Saturday afternoon. George Burns plays a man celebrating his 81st birthday. He makes a wish to be 18 again and after a car crash with his 18 year old grandson (Schlatter), they swap bodies. Schlatter is fantastic in this film and gives a great energetic performance. His big cheesy grin throughout is definitely a reason to watch this film. Despite being mostly a fantasy film, this movie packed a lot of wit and humor to the racial stereotyping of the times (which may still be just as valid today). C Thomas Howell was able to perform the transmutation into a black man without a hitch (even if he only on rare occasions actually spoke like a black man). James Earl Jones is the "black" teacher we all dream of having, which few of us ever do. Despite its flaws, this movie manages to get it's point across reasonably well and can be appreciated by both adults and kids. One of the biggest reasons for my liking this film is the fact that I like the way the romance subplot was handled. Rather than having the love-interest fall into the hero's lap right away (like they do in most movies, books, or stories), in this movie, the hero had to actually EARN the girl's love rather than just get it for free! In that way this movie is quite rare and I respect it for that reason. More movies should handle romance stories the way this one does since one of the biggest flaws society suffers from is the fact that very few people really have to earn anything anymore and thus do not really know the true value of something as a result. Overall rating: 8 out of 10.

My biggest issue with this one is why didn't the kid have more questions when he "came back" at the end?? If you think about it, everything would have made no sense to him at all.Aside from that, this is an enjoyable movie, albeit a flawed one. Charlie Schlatter had a lot of fun with the role, and I warmed up to it (at first he struck me as rather annoying). The movie mostly revolves around his performance as a re-young George Burns, and he does a pretty good job with that.I really liked the Anita Morris character; it was a rather unsympathetic role but she got into it and that made it worth watching.Jennifer Runyon is a trifle nondescript here; she doesn't get to do a whole lot other than smile and look pretty -- which she does well. She got a fair amount of lines, but there wasn't much interesting about them.Don't expect greatness here, just some silly fun, and you'll enjoy it.

OK,I love these "switch"bodies or conscience or whatever sort of out of body experience films you want to call them and so I seek them out.Sadly this film has only one reason to see it and thats the late great George Burns.He has a quite grace that transcends any foolishness his roles call for and this movie calls for a few,least of which is any even remotely believable explanation of why a 81 year oldster switches conscience with his college aged grandson.The grandson, played by Charlie Schlatter, slowly grows on you and the in between'er role played by Tony Roberts is wasted.Red Buttons,Anita Morris and a VERY low keyed Pauly Shore are the only other actors worth noting.The plot is standard older gets younger one last time.Nothing new or earthshaking and the lack of science and VERY dated feel of dress and style makes it fairly boring unless you are really into these sort of films.See a lot better ones first, than see this for Mr.Burns ONLY.There was a sort of funny scene in a history class room about what the "S"inHarry S.Truman's name stood for but that was one of too few.

The '80s was a good time for this kind of movie. Obviously.Not only was there "18 Again!", but there was "Big", "Like Father, Like Son" and "Vice Versa", all with the same basic idea - regaining lost youth. And in comparison with the others, this falls sorta mid-way.Burns, as always, is great and in fine form. Schlatter does a great Burns imitation in his early scenes especially. Runyon plays basically the same character she did in "Up the Creek" an just about every other part she'd played in movies before this. But she does okay. Morris, slinky and sultry as ever, doesn't disappoint. Everyone else just kind of hangs back and lets the story take care of itself. But that's okay; it does.Let's face it: you can only say good in a movie where Pauly Shore play a halfway tolerable person.Seven stars. Watch "18 Again!" and if you have before, do it "Again!"!