Review of 13 Going on 30 (2004) by Adam F — 21 Mar 2014

"13 going on 30" is nice, light entertainment that's appropriate and satisfying for kids and adults. What sells the movie is Jennifer Garner, who plays Jenna Rink, a 13 year-old girl who gets transplanted and sent into the future into her own adult body. Garner does a really terrific job and is really charming in the role. You recognize that she's a teenager, but she's the kind of teenager you like, spunky, enthusiastic and hopeful. It's a joyful experience to see a young girl that's discovering what it's like being an adult while also trying to figure out what she wants in life. As she adapts to her new life, her character evolves at a steady pace, making friends, making her childhood dreams come true and righting the wrongs that have happened between her 13th birthday and the present. At first we get some hijinks where she has to adjust to adult life but those quickly pass because she's not some stupid teen, she's just a fish out of water and she catches on quickly. When it comes to everyone else in her life, the characters feel like natural evolutions of the ones you saw at the beginning of the movie and there's something sweet about seeing her childish charms interact with the adult world she now finds herself in.

The movie manages to insert some comedy without making any lame jokes that you would expect when exposing someone from the 80's to technology nearly 20 years in the future. You don't get any lame gags about her not understanding what a cell phone is or how a computer works but you do get some sharp moments of confusion and misunderstandings that are right on target. It's enough to be funny, but not enough to have her look like a total nutcase. As she adjusts to her life as a magazine editor, you see her co-workers fall for her nostalgic charms and you do too. Don't think this means that the movie falls into lame clichés where the gruffy, by-the-books boss that's a stick in the mud will suddenly get a revelation brought on by a teenager's vision of what a magazine should be, it's smarter than that. The movie appeals to that part of you that is yearning for those simple days when you didn't have so much to worry about and were optimistic about the future to come, maybe in a way that was a bit naïve, but also enthusiastic to take on new challenges. The resolution of the film is also quite satisfying and stays on course with the smart script.

If you want a "body switch" movie that doesn't have any of the cringe-inducing material you see in the obligatory near-annual entries in the genre, "13 Going On 30" will definitely hit the spot.?(Dvd, April 24, 2013).