User reviews

18 Again is another one of those 80s role reversals, which for the decade, seemed to always involved young men and their fathers or grandfathers. Here, a young man switches bodies with his grandfather, and both see what it's like to live young and old.

Charlie Schlatter is David Watson, a college kid who's quiet, and far too held back in saying what he wants to say, especially around girls. But all that changes when he switches bodies with his grandfather Jack (George Burns), a charismatic, funny old guy with a whole lot of energy who, in switching bodies with his grandson, gives David a lot of appeal. Suddenly, he does the 180 from quiet to cool. It's your typical story about learning about self-confidence aside from sharing experiences about being that age these days in the same that Vice Versa, Dream a Little Dream, and Like Father Like Son did when they were released.

But this one is much more appealing than those previously mentioned, particularly driven by George Burn's great sense of humor and universal ability to charm, and also with Charlie Schlatter doing a pretty good job trying to act like George Burns would. Schlatter is hardly an annoying or selfish teenager, and neither is Burns, and I think that's what sets this movie apart from the others as well, despite being one of many using that plot. It's well worth the time. Plus, Pauley Shore has a small part as David's cooky friend.

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!"!

This is a fun comedy. It hits all the right notes for a very tired "soul-switching" genre that tended to dominate in the late-80s/early-90s. The difference is "18 Again" is the best of that genre hands-down. "Big" is a better movie, but that isn't soul-switching as much as a "child/grownup" genre. Match "18 Again" against other soul-switchers like "Dream A Little Dream", "Vice Versa", "Freaky Friday", or the horrific "Like Father, Like Son" from the same era - and you'll see a story with a heart unlike the others. In modern terms, this movie is closest to "17 Again" - although again, that isn't soul-switching as much as "child/grownup". However, I would take "18 Again" over "17 Again" simply for two reasons: Charlie Schlatter's uncanny physical mimicking - and the comedy talents of George Burns.

Charlie Schlatter is absolutely PERFECT as both David/Jack. His lovable-but-worthless "deer in the headlights" college freshman vs. that of his world-wise, confident grandfather, played by the irrepressible George Burns. The story twists with young David going through a series of let-downs that only a college freshman could experience with all the put-downs and disappointments we could expect. Enter his amazingly spontaneous and funny grandfather, Jack. Once Jack's soul enters David, we see all the confidence David needed to solve so many of his difficult situations.

The supporting cast is fine, if not a bit caricatured. However, watching Burns "inhabit" Schlatter's 18-year-old body is a joy. Schlatter should be teaching young actors/actresses on how to mimic body movements. He is simply that mesmerizing once Jack is "inside" him. It's a hoot. The part where "young" Jack tells his best friend, Charlie (Red Buttons) who he really is... It's a gem of a scene. Two legendary comedians using the body of a very capable young actor to convey joy and happiness from a bygone era... Loved it.

This is not a classic college comedy like "Animal House", "Revenge of the Nerds" or anything like that. But as a feel-good, happy little story that is well worth watching simply to watch George Burns at his best as the old gent with a wicked wit, this is a good one.

"David Watson" (Charlie Schlatter) is an 18-year-old college freshman who is in the process of attempting to pledge to a fraternity. His worst antagonist is a senior in that same fraternity named "Russ" (Anthony Starke) who just so happens to have a girlfriend by the name of "Robin Morrison" (Jennifer Runyon) who David is also quite smitten with. In any case, one night while out with his grandfather, "Jack Watson" (George Burns) an auto accident creates a situation in which the soul of Jack is transplanted into David-and vice versa. So now, rather than being 81 years old, Jack is now 18. And being extremely outgoing, Jack becomes quite determined to make the most of the situation. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that I thought that this was a pretty good comedy all around with both George Burns and Charlie Schlatter performing in a fine manner. Likewise, having an attractive actress like Jennifer Runyon certainly helped to improve the scenery as well. Be that as it may, I enjoyed this movie and I have rated it accordingly. Above average.

One of the many supernatural "body switch" comedies of the 80's in the tradition of Big (1988) and Like Father, Like Son (1987).

First the weaknesses:

• Extremely predictable three-act comedy.

• Over-the-top cartoonish 80's bully villains;

And why is the female lead always a nice and smart girl while her boyfriend always such a genuinely bad guy? There is some seriously discordant bad judgment going on here. If "nice guys finish last" is just a false stereotype, it must be perpetuated by these types of movies.

• When the grandson puts on the suspenders and all that and tries to lay on the old-man acting thickly it's often overdone and not believable.

• There are several confusing scenes where a character makes a remark about something that is in disagreement with what could be reasonably interpreted by watching the scene (eg. Characters often insult each others' clothes but they seem to be dressed normally to me).

• Lots of loose ends (eg. The young protagonist's best friend disappears in the middle of the movie; his artistic endeavors seem to be very important but also just dealt with for a very short while)

That being said, I can't rate this movie lower because it has some seriously strong aspects. The director's use of physical touch is superb. A hand coming to another person's shoulder can cause such strong emotions as revulsion, regret, or sadness in this director's hands.

I don't know who the actor playing the grandfather is, but he's bursting with personality (I know his name is George Burns but I'm not otherwise familiar with his work). You don't often see actors of this age in lead roles, but despite the apparent limitations in mobility and facial expressiveness, he beats out the likes of Dudley Moore and other older halves of the lead duos in these movies by being funnier and more effective in the emotional scenes (nothing against against Moore and company, Burns just does an outstanding job here).

For example, there's a very memorable song where Burns is just talking along to a melody in the style of Frank Sinatra. Despite that, it works. One doesn't need to jump around or hit all the high notes to create a big impression. It's very impactful and drenched in nostalgia.

Why was this movie so obsessed with Harry S. Truman? It must be the only comedy where Harry S. Truman is a significant plot point.

Honourable Mentions: Back to School (1986). Another university comedy where a seemingly irrelevant historical figure is mentioned obsessively. In this case, it's Kurt Vonnegut.

David Watson (Charlie Schlatter) and his friend Barrett (Pauly Shore) are college students. He suffers under his frat brother Russ and pines for Russ's girlfriend Robin Morrison. He has a hard-nosed wealthy businessman grandfather Jack Watson (George Burns). His father Arnie works for Jack and concerned about Jack's wild companion Madeline. On his 81st birthday, Jack wishes to be 18 again. Jack takes David out for the night but they get into a car accident. Jack ends up in a coma. David wakes up with Jack's consciousness. He is surprised at David's sad life and his love of painting instead of business. He confides in friend Charlie (Red Buttons) about the switch.

There are two problems with this body-switch movie. Charlie Schlatter doesn't get George Burns quite right. Sometimes he's good but not always. Schlatter needs to do a better Burns impression because everybody knows how he act. As for Burns himself, it would be great for him to do something different. Instead, he's stuck in a coma for most of the movie. Once he goes into a coma, he only gets a few dream sequences where he is the same Burns. The story is the standard body-switch. It has some fun moments but is mostly a disappointment.

After a longevous career on early Hollywood period the charismatic George Burns rises again on mid-seventies in THE SUNSHINE BOYS, OH, GOD! And GOING STYLE, paving a solid career as good old guy aftermaths, then came up fine projects which he portraits such charming character, in 18 AGAIN! He is back in a successful Hollywoodian formulaic pictures of trading souls, usually done by cinema industry through the years, I'd watched it in small parts on the past, now on full length for very first time.

This turn a shy teenager David Watson (Charlie Schlatter) in dire straits with his brotherhood at college, whereof doesn't get much attention of the girls, however his old wealthy grandpa Jack Watson (George Burns) a wisdom and bon vivant who knows the secret of life, on his birthday party of 81 years old he make a wish that comes to happen on a car's accident with his beloved grandson back from a night dinner, well the remainder everybody already figure out properly, underling George Burns in grandson's body making several jokes thru his mind, simply priceless, including he refers Pauly Shore companion on gir.ly spirit.

Charlie Schlatter a tiny guy, soon gets George Burns's mannerism at once at early sequences, mainly in walking and smoking cigars, the highlights quite sure are two secondary characters, the hoity-toity mistress Madeline (Anita Morris) and the loyalty Butler Horton (Bernard Fox) often talking on sarcastic mood over the hu.ssy Madeleine's behavior, furthermore the picture brings back the Golden Age era of the late twenties, a fancy outfits attached finest music and stylish dance, also focusing President Harry S. Truman's background info, without forget the early weirdo Pauly Shore and the auburn Red Buttons, woefully the writers stumbled upon disgracefully at athletic racing sequence, a so farcical outcome.

Thanks for reading.

Resume:

First watch: 1993 / How many: 2 / Source: TV-DVD / Rating: 7.

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.

My 20 yo son and I had a blast watching several "body swap" films: 13 Going on 30, 18 Again, Freaky Friday (2003), Freaky Friday (1976), and The Shaggy D. A.

So when I saw that George Burns had made 18 Again!, I put it on hoping we'd have a blast watching a classic star in a film set up we like. I knew going into it that it likely hadn't aged well. It's a comedy from 1988, and a lot that passed for comedy then is really just gross- but I was willing to give it a watch, understanding it's a comedy of its time, and hoping the payoff of genuine laughs would be worth the tradeoff of the uncomfortably gross moments. Nope! This one just doesn't hold up.

We only watched the first 30-40 minutes. But in that short time, we saw:

* Grandpa's voluptuous companion strongly hitting on Grandson * A male professor lecherously offering to "help" a female student and putting his hand on her shoulder * Grandpa flirting shamelessly with a young waitress and her giggling with "delight" (yeah, right; in the director's dreams) * An art class scene with a nude model includes lingering scenes with full frontal and full rear nudity.

What a disappointment. We'd disliked several scenes, but kept watching hoping it would get better. It didn't, so we turned it off.

It was nice to see a young Pauly Shore in a supporting role before his BioDome/Encino Man Era, and I'm giving it two stars because I did really enjoy seeing George Burns wax nostalgic while singing a song.

I saw this movie almost ten years ago, and I still haven't seen a better comedy.

I enjoyed every minute. Don't miss it !!

This is a heart warming film. I'm not a typical person to like 80's cinema, though i do like all manners of comedies, though this is great. I've never seen a George Burns film & i really liked it. He obviously passed his comedy talent on to Pauly Shore and it was interesting to see a film in which Pauly was an actor & not a comedien playing an actor. You know what really would have been interesting. If this was made once Pauly had his image established, there could've been a couple of great scenes with Burns trying to understand what he was saying & stuff. This film is great, & you don't have to be a fan of 80's cinema to enjoy it throughly. Two very enthusiastic thumbs up. Also, some might say that this has played too much on a body switching premise of the late 80's but i think it had a nice angle on it, and i loved this film

In the late 1980s, there were a LOT of body switching films. I could list them, but IMDB's trivia section lists quite a few...though certainly NOT all of them. Most were dopey but harmless. "18 Again!" is most unusual because it's NOT a family friendly film...despite the PG rating which it inexplicably received. After all, the new PG13 designation came out in 1984...several years before this movie. So why do I think the rating was way off? Well, there's a scene with a nude model and it shows A LOT. The models is beautiful, I must admit, but do parents want younger kids watching this or listening to the MANY sexual innuendos throughout the movie?

David (Charlie Schlatter) is an ineffectual 18 year-old college student who lets other folks walk all over them...particular the guys at his college. As for his grandfather, Jack (George Burns), he's a bit of a dirty old man...rich and with a trophy girlfriend to boot. But she's not exactly faithful to him...she just wants his money.

At Jack's birthday party, Jack makes a wish as he blows out the cake...to be young again. Later that night, he's in an accident with David...and when Jack comes to, he's in David's body and vice-versa. Through most of the rest of the story, David's in a coma...and Jack learns what it's like to be young again...as well as using his MANY years of experience to make David a more popular guy on campus. He also soon learns the truth about the girlfriend.

I think the body switching films are mostly very lazy and VERY derivative. The best I can recall is "Big" as well as "All of Me"...most of the rest seem the same. I'd include "18 Again!" in this latter category...though it's much more adult. It isn't totally unlikable...and it's not a bad time passer. But it's sad to see a guy as talented as Burns in such a movie. As for Charlie Schlatter, his acting isn't good...especially his mugging at the camera all the time. Apparently someone told him this is how Burns acts...but it's really not comparable. I don't entirely blame Schlatter...I'm sure the director liked this routine but I didn't. Overall, a movie that is easy to skip but one that is amazingly adult throughout. And, I really think the film should have been called "Not another 18 Again!".

By the way, one thing that DID impress me about this film is Pauley Shore's performance. He's 'normal' here!! None of his schtick that he's famous for...such as the silly phrases, dopey words and all. It makes you wish he'd done this in his other movies.

The story premise of body swap is surely rare for the movie's time. Yet the thing is that even for a movie of that time, the overall feel is like of one that's not too well organized. The pace is kept stable almost all the entire movie. But it jumps drastically and unprepared to the climax point.The mood is acquired nicely through the use of props and reminiscing of old nostalgia. But it gets a bit carried away when Tony Roberts sound like he's using an accent common in the movies of 1950s. The acting is a so-so. Everyone just acted out below expectation. Although, it must be said that Charlie Schlatter did nice to impersonate older folks.

Some people didn't like this film, but I did. It was one of the four body swap comedies that came out in the same 12 months during 1987-1988. I remember them all very well cause I was 12 and 13 then and I was always going to the movies.

"18 again" was the second best of the four. ("Vice versa" was best due to very convincing and humorous acting from Fred Savage and Judge Rhinehold when they switch. "Like father, like son" was my least favorite due to very unconvincing and stupid annoying acting from Kirk and Dudley when they switch. And "Big" was Tom Hanks as a 13 year old in a 30 year old body acting more like was 6 instead of 13 when he switched and not acting anything like he did when he was actually 13). George Burns was always a good comedian, and I liked him in the "Oh god" movies. Here he switches places with his 18 year old grandson, Charlie Shlatter. The swap comes after Burn's birthday party when he says how he's happy about how he has everything he wants, except youth. Then, Burns and Charlie, in the car together, have an accident.

When he comes to, Charlie in Burn's body, he discovers he's been swapped. He's shocked for a moment, but then he is ecstatic and excited, he has gotten his wish. He goes back to school and things for him change due to Burn's soul now being in Charlie's body. Before, Charlie was always being pushed around by the bullies in his fraternity, and he had no confidence with girls. Now, Burns in Charlie's body, he stands up to those bullies, makes a jerk of a teacher look bad in front of the whole class by outsmarting him and being a wise ass about it. He now, with confidence, improved his track abilities. And he now, with confidence, was able to attract and win the girl he couldn't get when Charlie was Charlie. I also liked the scene when Burns/Charlie throws a roaring 20s style party, but some of that is cause I'm a big fan of movies from Hollywood's golden age. It being an 80s movie though, I am a tad bit curious how a bunch of 80s kids were automatically able to jump into a 20s style party like that, right away knowing all the dance moves and styles from that era. I like how Burns/Charlie's girlfriend dresses and dances just like a flapper (same with all the girls at that party). I also liked how Burns/Charlie mentioned bathtub gin and said "let's roar like the stock market crash is just around the corner". I also liked the scenes of Burns/Charlie and his old friend Red Buttons when he was convincing him what really happened with him and his grandson switching. And I liked their suggestive version of "By the light of the silvery moon" that they had sang many years ago when they were younger.

The one thing that bothered me a bit more in this film is how the other half, Charlie in Burn's body, was basically unconscious through most of the movie, since the souls were swapped, and Burn's body was in a coma from the car crash. But I guess it did give us more time to explore the different experiences Burns was having in Charlie's body. Still a good movie.

This is the best movie of all the switched personality movies. It's so funny because its true! The funniest part was when that old guy did the dance at the party and all the girls wanted to go out with him. I hope I can do that when I'm 81! This is the best thing Charlie Schlater has done since "Fish Police". I think everyone should go out and see "18 Again!", again!

Charming comedy about the fate that intervenes in the lives of Jack, a swinging 81 year old bachelor who has everything but youth, and his grandson David, who change souls after a freak accident. Burns is lovely, but it is Schlatter who steals the picture with a witty and youthful version of Burns.

I must have a thing for body swap stories because I've liked nearly every film with this premise. 1987-88 was the peak year for this type of flick and you had a bunch of good ones: Like Father, Like Son, Vice Versa, and Big all came out that fall, spring, and summer. 18 Again is the one that came and went. It lasted about three weeks in theatres and then disappeared. The thing is, I think I like this one more than the others that I've mentioned. Maybe it's because George Burns is in it, maybe it's because of the gorgeous Anita Morris, or maybe it's the idea of being an older man getting a second chance at youth. It's possible that all of the above contribute to the appeal. Regardless, when I want to watch a movie in this genre, 9 times out of 10, I stick in 18 Again and enjoy it every time. It's not the best of the genre but it's probably the most fun.

Shortly after George Burns' 81st birthday he is involved in a terrible car accident with his 18-year-old grandson (Charlie Schlatter) and the two have their souls switched in the venture. Now Schlatter's soul is trapped in Burns' comatose body while Burns' soul is in Schlatter's body (which was not injured in the accident). The typical insanity then takes place as Burns enjoys living in Schlatter's body, but then he realizes that the fun must stop and that he must do what he can to save his grandson's life. A tedious little comedy that just never does work. The formula is just lacking on the silver screen. 2 stars out of 5.

There's nothing to dislike about this movie, it's fun, easy to watch with great actors who give great comedic performances.

It's not a serious movie, so don't go expecting gone with the wind lol. It's just a feel good 80s movie.

I'd never heard of George burns before, having watched this I'm going to look him up and see what else I can watch him in.

If you want a movie that's fun, and makes you laugh then this is for you.