The perpetual pretty boy Zac Efron is set to star in a movie that holds some promise outside the Disney-fied cushion of hormonal tweens!

A new film called 17 is set to begin production soon and has cast Efron as a 17 year old boy who has reverted from a grown man.

Hey, it’s not like it’s never been done before but, whatever. I’m just excited that it’s not another crappy musical.

Am I coming off as an excitable Efron fan? Well, sorry to say…I am not.

But that’s why I can honestly say I am pulling for the guy because for once he’s been giving a role that goes beyond puppy love and a boyish face.

Aww…he’s growing up!

And I haven’t even mentioned the best part!

Leslie Mann (Knocked Up), wife of director Judd Apatow (40 Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up), has been cast as well. Phew! Talk about Efron seting himself up for success! Joining up with Team Apatow, in any capacity, is sure to up your credibility by leaps and bounds. And as a girl who thinks paying ten bucks to see a movie musical is a waste of time, and insists 20-somethings who still watch Disney have deeper issues, I’m am proud of the boy.

I’m willing to bet a year from now Efrom pulls a Gyllenhaal circa Bubble Boy and manages to make several indie-ish hits. If Jakey can do it Zac most certainly can. Really, think about it. If an actor can bounce back from playing a crazy lunatic in a bubble…Zac can shed his, shall we say…soft image. C’mon, it’s nothing Zac! I’m behind you!

Anyone care to wager?

But I sucked it up the other day, and went to see Knocked Up. I must say, that’s like the funniest movie I’ve seen since, well… 40 Year Old Virgin. I don’t think I stopped laughing— nor did the rest of the theatre—for the entire movie. I could have sat there and watched Seth Rogen for another hour. By the end of it, I was slightly in love with him, and his stoner, weirdo friends. I now also want Leslie Mann (the drunk, vomiter in 40 Year Old Virgin with a much bigger and funnier part in this) to be my best friend. She’s freaking hilarious!

So I was a little upset to read last week that writer Judd Apatow is being sued for ripping the whole thing off. Turns out Canadian writer Rebecca Eckler wrote a startlingly similar book a few years back. In Eckler’s 2004 book titled Knocked Up, an up-and-coming journalist gets pregnant after getting drunk at her engagement party. OK, Katie Heigl is a journalist too, but she’s not engaged….

Eckler even claims that when she started to shop the book around Hollywood, she learned of Apatow’s script— whose cover was identical to her book jacket (a martini glass with a pacifier on the rim). Hmm, this is a little fishy.

I haven’t read the book, nor will I ever probably. The movie is just too damn funny, and I would like to believe that Apatow isn’t capable of such blatant thievery. He released a statement to TMZ (everyone goes straight to TMZ now, don’t they? Goodbye news networks!) which read, “Anyone who reads the book and sees the movie will instantly know that they are two very different stories about a common experience.” I wonder…. Anyone read the book?

I guess we’ll see what the outcome of this fiasco is. Regardless, Apatow is an insanely talented, hysterical writer. From his short-lived wonderful show Freaks and Geeks (does anyone remember that—Rogen was in it too), to the career-making vehicle for Steve Carell 40 Year Old Virgin, he has proved that he’s original, and just plain awesome. I hope it all works out in the end.

I’m also stoked to see Superbad—written by my new favorite, bumbling cutie Rogen, and starring some of the losers from Knocked Up! Though there’s already another pissed off writer claiming they stole the title from him….