18 Again! (1988)

There were plenty of movies in the 1980's where a kid would trade places with a parent, but the best of these in my opinion is 18 Again! The take away I got from this movie is the powerful bond that can develop between a Grandparent and their Grandchild. Also, what it would be like for someone at the end of their life to have one chance to go back and be 18 again if just for a short time.

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.

In this delightful fantasy comedy, George Burns plays a 81-year-old bachelor who smokes a lot of cigars. After an involving his grandson, David [Charlie Schlatter] his soul ends up in Charlie's body and Charlie's soul ends up in his body. That is when things start to get a little weird which is one of the many problems I had with this movie. Though a lot a things about this movie annoy and bother, it is pretty funny. George Burns provides loads of laughs in some really fun scenes and Charlie Schlatter makes this movie extremely entertaining. Pauly Shore has a little, but great part as one David's friends. The supporting cast is excellent, the music is fantastic, the movie was shot beautifully, and out of all the other body-switching comedies, this one is by far the best. Compare this to the Corey Haim and Corey Feldman body-switching comedy, DREAM A LITTLE DREAM and 18 AGAIN! looks like a masterpeace. This is actually one of the funniest comedies of the 1980's. I'm surprised that it isn't very popular. It's probably because it is hard to find. I had to go to four different video stores before I could find this, but it was well worth it!!!