Zac Efron

Hard enough to be a teenager and blunder your way into maturity as a private citizen. Harder still for a teen idol to prove his manhood professionally as the fans watch. Leonardo DiCaprio did it. So, too, did Will Smith. Can Zac Efron, boy heartthrob of High School Musical , make the leap? The answer may be Charlie St. Cloud, a Ghost -y weeper starring the former Tiger Beat centerfold as a Stanford-bound student who grieves - and grows - in the wake of family tragedy.

8 p.m. Channel 29 Singer Katy Perry (right) hosts this event that celebrates the hottest teen icons in film, television, music, sports and fashion. Scheduled to appear are former "American Idol" runner-up David Archuleta, Kristen Bell, John Cena, Miranda Cosgrove and Zac Efron.

The Hollywood Reporter reports that Taylor Swift (right) has joined the voice cast of " Dr. Seuss ' The Lorax. " Swift joins Danny DeVito , Ed Helms , Zac Efron , Rob Riggle and Betty White in the tale of a boy (Efron) who searches for a way to win the affection of the girl of his dreams (Swift). He comes across the story of the Lorax, the grumpy yet charming creature who fights to protect his world.  

LET THE CULT mongering begin: among this week's new DVDs is Edgar Wright's "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. " The wigged-out comedy bombed at the box office ($31 million), but its small, devoted following claims it's as totemic among the Net generation as "The Big Lebowski. " Michael Cera has the title role as a 20-something who falls for a girl with seven ex-lovers, all of whom he must fight before a romance can commence. The story is cute, but the medium in this case is the message - it's visually designed by Wright to reflect Scott's Xbox, comic-book culture background.

"17 Again" puts Disney commodity Zac Efron into a recycled "Freaky Friday" plot and ends up with a surprisingly un-awful 'tween comedy. Not that there isn't shameless pandering to the brand. The movie opens with Efron sweaty and shirtless, shooting baskets as he readies for a big hoops game, one that's delayed until he inexplicably joins the cheerleaders for a pre-game dance number. Efron plays high school star Mike O'Donnell, about to play an important game in front of college recruiters.

If it does nothing else, 17 Again - in which a tired, middle-aged Matthew Perry revisits his robust teenage self (Zac Efron) and finds it's a wonderful life - proves the durability of the body-swap fantasy. But 17 Again also showcases the previously unseen acting talents of Efron, the Tigerbeat cover boy best known as the shaggy haircut of the High School Musical series and the pompadour of Hairspray. (His latest coif combines comb-over with the bowl cut, which produces the effect of a freaky friar.

A bid to sell 'Slumdog' star? Have to sell your kid? Get a good price! British tab News of the World reports that Rafiq Qureshi, father of Rubina Ali, 9, one of the stars of Slumdog Millionaire, tried to sell her to undercover reporters. A bargain at $295,000! The whole happy family lives in a poor section of Mumbai. Interested? Get bids in now: Qureshi says he has several offers. Zac Efron sprints past Russell Crowe According to studio estimates, 17 Again, with Zac Efron and Leslie Mann, debuted as filmo numero uno this weekend, yanking in $24.1 million.

HUGH HEFNER didn't shock the world at all earlier this month when he announced that two of his three girlfriends were moving on to do other things and he would likely be replacing them with a pair of twin sisters, Karissa and Kristina Shannon. That's just how Hef rolls! He founded Playboy! He wears a smoking jacket! He has a grotto! He dates twins sometimes! Unfortunately for Hef, now that his life and loves are documented in the reality show "The Girls Next Door," his pick of girlfriends has become a more public affair, to the point that he maybe should start vetting.

Maybe it's the big, kid-friendly titles from Spielberg and Scorsese (three of 'em). Maybe it's Lisbeth Salander, all tattooed and pierced but speaking English this time. Or perhaps it's the mess of high-profile adaptations, remakes, and reboots. Whatever the reason, this holiday season seems a lot busier, and (gulp, dare we say?) more promising, than the similarly time-framed lineups of recent years. Traditionally, Hollywood and Indiewood save their prestige titles for these final months and weeks, when critics tally their lists, and Oscar buzzers buzz with forecasts for best picture, best actress, best performance by a terrier in a supporting role (Cosmo from Beginners ?

The Hollywood Reporter reports that Taylor Swift (right) has joined the voice cast of " Dr. Seuss ' The Lorax. " Swift joins Danny DeVito , Ed Helms , Zac Efron , Rob Riggle and Betty White in the tale of a boy (Efron) who searches for a way to win the affection of the girl of his dreams (Swift). He comes across the story of the Lorax, the grumpy yet charming creature who fights to protect his world.  

Over the next few days, Top 10 lists of Important Things That Happened in 2010 - y'know, oil spills and such - will blanket the place like snow on Lincoln Financial Field. So serious. So uncelebratory at such a jolly time of year. That is why E! Online proudly presents the "10 Biggest Partiers of 2010"! At No. 10 is teen throb Zac Efron , who E! says was seen at FlashDancers in NYC, "where he got lapdances and bottle service. " Gossip Girl 's Blake Lively is 9, Katy Perry is 8, and Paris Hilton is 7. At a perplexingly low number (6)

LET THE CULT mongering begin: among this week's new DVDs is Edgar Wright's "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. " The wigged-out comedy bombed at the box office ($31 million), but its small, devoted following claims it's as totemic among the Net generation as "The Big Lebowski. " Michael Cera has the title role as a 20-something who falls for a girl with seven ex-lovers, all of whom he must fight before a romance can commence. The story is cute, but the medium in this case is the message - it's visually designed by Wright to reflect Scott's Xbox, comic-book culture background.

8 p.m. Channel 29 Singer Katy Perry (right) hosts this event that celebrates the hottest teen icons in film, television, music, sports and fashion. Scheduled to appear are former "American Idol" runner-up David Archuleta, Kristen Bell, John Cena, Miranda Cosgrove and Zac Efron.

There's an unfussy confidence to Zac Efron's acting, a physical ease on camera that doesn't require mannerisms or tricks. He is slipping the bounds of high-school musicals and dramas right before our eyes, and his screen presence is already more adult-masculine than Leonardo DiCaprio's was at this age. And if directors choose to shoot him in close-up, well, he can't help if it he's pretty. "Charlie St. Cloud" ably packages Efron in a teen weeper, a transitional romance that takes the "High School Musical" star into his 20s, with adult concerns and emotional issues and a romance that accepts adult consequences.

Hard enough to be a teenager and blunder your way into maturity as a private citizen. Harder still for a teen idol to prove his manhood professionally as the fans watch. Leonardo DiCaprio did it. So, too, did Will Smith. Can Zac Efron, boy heartthrob of High School Musical , make the leap? The answer may be Charlie St. Cloud, a Ghost -y weeper starring the former Tiger Beat centerfold as a Stanford-bound student who grieves - and grows - in the wake of family tragedy.

Country music hero and sausage master Jimmy Dean will be laid to rest - in a grand piano - in a private burial Monday in Richmond, Va. Dean, 81, who died Sunday at his home in Henrico County, Va., will be entombed in a $350,000, 91/2-foot-long granite piano mausoleum overlooking the James River. The piano will bear the inscription, "Here lies one hell of a man. " Dean's widow, Donna Meade Dean , says the epitaph was inspired by "Big Bad John," the singer's massive 1961 hit. "He was the most special human being I've ever known," Donna tells the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

How fickle a creature is the American tween? Just four years ago, the Disney film High School Musical was such an important part of our household that our playroom somehow ended up populated by life-size cardboard cutouts of its cast. Yet this week, when I invited both of my target market-age children to see New Candlelight Dinner Theatre's staged version, groaning ensued. Even after I told them there was pie for dessert. The American tween is also unfailingly nice, and never walks out of a show sneering at how a musical about high school ended up with elementary school-style direction and choreography (Dann Dunn)

Things click for Leibovitz It's a good day to be Annie Leibovitz. The famous photog of the famous has been granted an extension for payments on a $24 mil loan that threatened her rights to her pics. Leibovitz, whose snaps regularly grace the covers of Vanity Fair, Vogue, and Rolling Stone, put up as collateral her three townhouses and the rights to every photo she had ever taken. (Yowza!) In July, Art Capital Group sued, claiming it had the right to recoup the money by selling Leibovitz's real estate and photographs.