This film was compared by many to Big but a major difference is that Big turned its main character from a tween to a 30-year-old in the present day, while 13 Going On 30 had its travel to her actual future.
So it is essentially a time travel movie, but one where the traveling is done by a young teen about to majorly change her outlook on life, and thus floored by what she’s apparently become as an adult.
When the time traveling unexpectedly happened in 1987, Jenna was greatly upset by her treatment at the hands of the cool kids (especially alpha female Lucy), and was committed to fitting in with them while getting rid of her tubby male best friend Matt. Upon waking up as a 30-year-old, Jenna is happy to see she has a killer job at a magazine, lives in a lavish apartment and is BFFs with Lucy.
However, going literally overnight from being a mild-mannered 13-year-old to that rattles her, understandably, and she seeks out Matt’s help (as well as that of her parents). Unfortunately, she is practically estranged from her parents and, even more heartbreakingly, Matt has been out of her life since that fateful night right before she time traveled. The actions of her bitchy older self make this sensitive child deeply upset.
The movie’s message is great, the story is told beautifully, and there are all sorts of hilarious and charming moments. A good one is when Jenna can’t understand the appeal of 2000s hip-hop at an office event she’s throwing and puts on her favorite song Thriller to successfully get everyone on the dance floor.
There are also great reminders that Jenna was barely a teen before suddenly turning into her 30-year-old self. The ones that stand out most are when she writes her first and last name in the top right corner of her notepad prior to a work meeting, she raises her hand to get her boss’s attention during the meeting, she gets bashful that her boyfriend is naked in her apartment, and, upon being told by Lucy that a hot guy is checking her out, she walks right past the adult man Lucy was referring to and tells a middle-school aged boy he’s cute. The last moment is made charming by the fact that Jenna, despite now living in her adult body, is too innocent to realize that hitting on the boy is wrong, and doubly charming by the fact that the boy then, full of swagger, asks Jenna out on a date. That’s so insightful, considering how many pubescent boys do drool over older women!
The movie was solidly successful critically and commercially, and most of the credit was deservedly given to Jennifer Garner. Her sweet, goofy, quirky, and sexy charm carries the film perfectly. Although I watched the film in theaters, rewatching it now reminded me why she’s one of my biggest celebrity crushes. Ben Affleck, how could you blow it?
Check out this video of her I found on the dark web:
Bottom Line: Such a charmer (the star and the movie)!
Up Next: Similar film.
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