Review of 13 Going on 30 (2004) by Mrmoviebuff — 16 Jul 2017

I admired this movie for its charm, and Jennifer Garner's sweet and loving lead performance, but ultimately, '13 Going on 30' is a movie filled with some predictability. We follow a young girl's journey as she feels that being older will give her more pleasures and less disappointments in life.

When she locks herself in her closet, and makes her wish... she finds herself waking up the next morning as a 30 year old, living with, what we may assume, is her boyfriend, but she has no recollection of anything that may have happened in between the 17 years, and she tries to find answers.

She discovers that she is working at a job that she loves, and that she is successful at it, but her former best friend (played by Mark Ruffalo), still resents her after the way she turned him down when they were teenagers.

But, she needs him more than ever. This movie is funny and has a lot of charm in it. Garner and Ruffalo share terrific chemistry together as two former friends, who could be something more. The movie, however, is just not as touching as it could have been, I feel that there could have been more emotional weight put into some scenes and maybe one or two more struggles along the journey, but overall, Jennifer Garner is lovely here, leading the movie so effortlessly, and the premise, while far from original, does live up to some expectations.