I've seen this before, and done better, in "13 going on 30".
But this is still entertaining, and it has several differences from that movie. For one thing, two teens, not one, are transported 17 years into a future they don't remember, and forced to cope as if they suddenly have amnesia, while realizing they are not who they would have wanted to be. Also, the same actors appear both as high school students and as adults.
Sara and Brian are high school students in 1990 thrown together by a class assignment to pretend they are married and figure out how to solve all the problems they might have. Little do they know they will get real-world experience.
Sara is running against nerdy Daniel for class president. Sara can't seem to attract anyone's interest, though. Fortunately for her, people seem to like Daniel even less. And the cool kids make both candidates' lives miserable.
Katie is Sara's bubbly best friend who gives her encouragement. They both love Michael Bolton and vow that whoever has a child first will name that child after him.
Sara has a crush on Brian, the dim-witted quarterback, who likes shallow cheerleader Tina. Jonathan is his best friend. Brian is pleased to have the brainy Sara as his class project partner, though, since it likely means he won't have to do any of the work.
During a total eclipse of the sun, Sara and Brian are together in the gym when Sara makes a wish and it suddenly comes true. She and Brian are about to get married, and the year is 2007. The world has changed so much, and neither of them know how to cope. They also don't remember what they have done in the past 17 years. Sara is running for lieutenant governor, and Brian is a successful investment banker with a gorgeous yet professional-looking secretary named Jacey. Actually, her clothes look business professional--her makeup and hair look like another profession altogether.
Katie is now Kate, and still friends with Sara, but she is so uptight. Her rebellious teen daughter Michelle (named, of course, for Michael Bolton) seems to have her mother's attitude, and she teaches Sara about such strange concepts as Google and the Blackberry.
Both Sara and Brian soon wish they have their simple lives back, because they find out being an adult, and being together, isn't what they had hoped for.
And this being a movie, you can count on lessons being learned and life returning to normal.
If I have to pick anyone as a standout performer, it's Nikki Elek as Michelle. She looks like a punk rocker but turns out to be quite likable. Kim Poirier as her mom seems so stiff.
The lead actors are pleasant enough, but no one here is going to win any awards.
The writers made sure to drive home the point that it was 1990 while the kids were still there, and to make sure we knew everything necessary to understand their world was different from the one we know. It's enjoyable for some of us, but it doesn't exactly say quality. I was pleased when Sara made a reference to catching up on all the Michael Bolton albums she missed. I don't recall hearing much if any of the man's music in this movie, which is a good thing--and as far as I know, the man's career has flopped. Luckily, Sara didn't find this out.
It was a fun movie.
