Small screen siren Jennifer Garner stars in this comedy about a young girl who gets her wish to become an adult, only to discover that growing up fast — really, really fast — isn’t all she’d hoped it would be. “13 Going on 30” has its moments, and will certainly appeal to its desired demographic (teenaged girls), but the movie is hampered by several conspicuous shortcomings, not the least of which is that it replaces one dubious lifestyle fantasy with another that is just as chancy. Plus, do we really need another film that reinforces the erroneous notion that career-minded single women are intrinsically contemptible? Director Gary Winick (“Tadpole”) borrows a formula that Penny Marshall once used to help transform Tom Hanks from TV star to film icon, but despite an excellent performance by Garner, this film isn’t good enough to be “Big” with boobs … frankly, it’s not even close.
Like most 13-year-old girls on the outside looking in, Jenna Rink (Christa B. Allen) just wants to be popular. She loves her best friend and neighbor Matt Flamhaff (Jack Salvatore, Jr.), but winds up shunning him because he’s the sort of free-thinking lad who doesn’t fit in with the “in” crowd Jenna tries futilely to emulate. After a humiliating experience at her birthday party, Jenna whiffs a little pixie dust and — voila! — wakes up the next morning in a swanky Manhattan crib with the fully-developed body of Jennifer Garner. After the initial shock wears off, Jenna quickly realizes that her grown-up self — a successful, unscrupulous magazine editor — has her priorities way out of whack, and goes about setting things straight. The first order of business is reconnecting with Matt (Mark Ruffalo), an easygoing photographer engaged to be married. Matt resists Jenna for about, oh, 30 seconds (Jennifer Garner, after all) and then it’s just a matter of figuring out how to lose the fiancé without tarnishing his good-guy image. With Matt by her side, Jenna rediscovers what really matters in life — marriage, kids, a house in Jersey — and in the process melts the icy hearts of her co-workers at Poise Magazine.
The soundtrack includes ditties by ’80s staples Rick Springfield and the Go-Gos, with Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” the hook upon which Winick hangs the movie’s fun-niest scene. (Rated PG-13 for some sexual content and brief drug references. Running time: 97 minutes)
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 23, 2004. Read the original PDF.