blank>" with young Jenna reaching her 13th birthday
with the hope of joining the Sixth Chick clique, led
by Lucy "Tom-Tom" Wyman (Alexandra Kyle). More than
anything, Jenna wants to be one of the cool kids and
invites Lucy, her posse and hunky Chris Grandy (Alex
Black) to her 13th birthday party. But, when they pull
a prank on her, she finds herself alone and her
"friends" gone.
The only one to stay behind is Jenna's best friend and
next-door neighbor, Matt (Sean Marquette), a good kid,
if a bit geeky, and the school photographer. For her
special day Matt made her "Jenna's Dreamhouse" and,
sprinkled with magic dust, will make her wishes come
true. When the Sixth Chicks snub Jenna, she takes her
anger out on Matt, but not before the magical dust
falls upon her. Jenna unhappily falls asleep that
night praying to be grown up.
The "next" morning, Jenna, all grown up, awakens to
find herself in a fancy Manhattan apartment. But, she
also discovers that there is a man in the flat and he
doesn't have on much in the way of clothes! She
hurriedly vacates the premise and runs into Lucy (Judy
Greer), also grown up and, it seems, her partner as
editors at the prestigious fashion magazine, Poise.
When they arrive at the office, they are immediately
accosted by their boss, Richard (Andy Sirkis), over
serious circulation woes caused by the rival mag,
Sparkle, which has been regularly scooping them. Jenna
is, initially, a fish out of water, not remembering
anything about the years since her 13th birthday.
Jenna embraces the fame and fortune of her prestigious
position, but there are unexpected cracks in the
foundation. She may have gotten her wish to be
"thirty, flirty, etc." but she is shocked to find out
that she has also been a conniving, cruel and
manipulative woman who was not beyond deceiving others
to get what she wanted. Stunned by this revelation and
needing some anchor from her distant past, Jenna
starts to search for her old friend, Matt (Mark
Ruffalo), who is working as a photographer in the
Village.
Matt is less than happy when Jenna turns up on his
doorstep. Unknown to her, in her present state, Jenna
did become the Sixth Chick, went on to be crowned prom
queen and set off on her ambitious career without so
much as a look back at her past. All she wants is to
get back her old friend but even this is not possible
when Jenna learns that Matt has a fiancee, Wendy (Lynn
Collins). But, Jenna's primary mission is to Poise and
she hires Matt to photograph her ideas that might just
save the day. Her unremembered adult past comes back
to bite her, though, and Lucy takes her ideas to the
rival magazine.
What does all this have to do with a girl who is 13
going on 30? Not too much, we find out, as helmer Gary
Winick ("Tadpole") seems to forget that his star is
supposed to be a 13-year old teenage girl. Sure, there
is a trace of the juvenile mentality in Jenna but
mostly she is simply thrilled to have it all until
this is tempered by reality. Jennifer Garner does
infuse her Jenna with the youthful energy wasted on
the young as she happily claps when she discovers her
closet full of cool clothes and, more important, lots
and lots of shoes. Garner gives an enthusiastic
performance as Jenna experiences such things a riding
in a limo being the center of attention at a cocktail
party held by her boss. Too bad the material is beyond
Garner's ability to save it.
The supporting cast is both sparse and weak. Mark
Ruffalo goes through the motions, usually with a
pained expression, as the old friend and obvious new
love interest. Judy Greer does nothing to flesh out
the bitchy role of Lucy, making it clear that with a
friend like her, who needs enemies. Only Andy Serkis,
of the adult players, gets to have any real fun and
puts an amusing spin on his editor-in-chief character,
Richard. The only other ones who get to shine are the
kids playing young Jenna and Matt (Christa B. Allen
and Sean Marquette). These two really come across as
best friends and, thanks to the eye of the casting
directors (Ellen Lewis and Terri Taylor), are a good
match to their older counterparts.
The filmmakers go through the motions of creating this
teen fantasy world but do little to infuse real life
into the proceeds. Garner's costumes, by Susie
DeSanto, are colorful, kicky and along the lines of
what would appeal to a teen. The rest of the techs are
adequate but not notable. Good use is made of a number
of 80's tunes - Michael Jackson's "Thriller" gets used
a couple of times; "Burning Down the House" by Talking
Heads counterpoints Madonna's "Crazy for You"; Rick
Springfield makes a comeback (which he probably didn't
expect) as Jenna's fave pop star, singing "Jessie's
Girl."
All I can say is "Thank you Jennifer Garner. You made
a thoroughly mediocre movie a bit better than it has
any right to be." I give "13 Going on 30" a C-.
For more Reeling reviews visit www.reelingreviews.com
robin@reelingreviews.com
laura@reelingreviews.com
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X-Language: en
X-RT-ReviewID: 1274791
X-RT-TitleID: 1131771
X-RT-SourceID: 386
X-RT-AuthorID: 1488
X-RT-RatingText: C-
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