What would it take to make you happy in life?
        For 13-year-old Jenna, happiness would be acceptance by the popular kids, success in high school, a glamorous career, and the independence of adulthood.  So, at the moment of her greatest mortification during a disastrous 13th birthday party, she wishes to be 30.
        Naturally, in a movie called 13 Going on 30, you know she will get her wish.  The next morning Jenna wakes up in the body of a 30-year-old magazine editor, with a hunky boyfriend (the appeal of which is lost to her 13-year-old sensibilities) and a “best friend” who is none other than – ta da! – the mean girl who led the popular crowd back in junior high.
        Okay, it’s not the most original premise for a film.  As in earlier movies like Big or Freaky Friday, much of the humor stems from the contrast between childish behavior and attitudes and the adult world of jobs and relationships.  The adolescent longings for popularity and the misery of secondary-school life are stock elements in dozens of teen movies produced every year.
        When Jenna asks her mother, “If you could do one thing over, what would it be?” we find ourselves transported to the world of films like Peggy Sue Got MarriedIt’s a Wonderful Life, where regretful adults re-examine their life choices in the context of bitter experience.
        The movie’s concept seemed so hackneyed that my companion and I considered going to this week’s other new movie, the Denzel Washington vehicle Man on Fire.  Only my aversion to excessive movie violence put us in 13 Going on 30 instead.  We were both pleasantly surprised – as was one (male) college student I overheard as he left the theater saying “This movie rocks.”
        Much of the success is due to Jennifer Garner’s (Alias) performance as the adult Jenna.  As a “tweener” trapped in an adult body, she is alternately frenetic and bewildered at the transformation, visibly delighted with the perks of adulthood (“I’m friends with Madonna!” she exclaims as she surveys photos in her office), and – as she gradually realizes that her 30-year-old self has not been a very nice person – afflicted with genuine pain and fear.
        The success she longed for at 13 has a price, you see.  She made it into the popular crowd by trashing her friendship with her next-door-neighbor, Matt, and has made it in the magazine world by deceit; as she learns about her “successful” life, the evidence accumulates that she has engaged in affairs, alienated herself from her parents, and betrayed those who trusted her most.
        We care for Garner’s Jenna because she never accepts the amoral ethos of the stranger she has become; instead, she works to remake her life around her better 13-year-old values, rediscovers her childhood friend Matt (played as an adult by Mark Ruffalo) and reignites their mutual feelings – too late, because he is about to be married.  Time for another wish.
        Although the movie is Garner’s star vehicle, the supporting cast gives her enough to work off, though I wouldn’t look for any Oscar nominations here.  Twelve-year-old Christa Allen is appealing in her feature-film debut as the young Jenna, all teenage angst and visible longing for inclusion.  That she and Alexandra Kyle (Tom-Tom, the leader of the populars) bear a strong visual resemblance to the actresses playing them as adults no doubt played a role in their casting, but she plays her part convincingly.
        Ruffalo as the adult Matt doesn’t have a lot of chemistry with Garner, seeming more bemused than anything else – but that may just be his character, who unlike Jenna has never abandoned his better self.  Greer as Lucy (the grown-up Tom-Tom) plays a standard “girlfriend” role but segues believably into the adult version of her seventh-grade “mean girl” when needed.  And it was nice to see Andy Serkis – best known as Gollum in The Lord of the Rings – in his own body as the boss, even though the part is written as a stock comedic character.
        Although its plot relies on magic wishing dust, at its heart 13 Going on 30 is more realistic and less escapist than many recent films.  There’s no fairy tale romance, talking cows, or CGI talking dogs, no insistently graphic violence.  Instead, it’s a bit of a throwback – a modern morality play on the best route to a satisfied life. or

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This page last updated on March 20, 2004.