Dir. Gary Winick, 2004, USA, 98 mins
Cast: Jennifer Garner, Mark Ruffalo, Judy Greer, Andy Serkis
Big. It's impossible to approach the new Jennifer Garner vehicle without the 80's comedy classic in mind as 13 Going On 30 essentially steals its central conceit from the aforementioned movie. Actually, 'homage' might be a kinder word to use, seeing that, with its gleeful nostalgia for Rick Springfield and Casio keyboards, 13 Going On 30 is as much aimed at cinema-goers who fondly remember Big as it is for a younger generation of teenage girls dreaming of adult life.
The film convincingly opens in 1987, where 13-year-old Jenna Rink laments her outsider status at school. After the school's bitchy in-crowd conspire to copy her homework and lock her in a cupboard, Jenna cries to herself how she longs to be "thirty, flirty and thriving." With a sprinkling of mysterious magic dust (no ancient Indian arcade games here) she gets her wish, and awakens in her 30-year-old body. Cue usual fish-out-of water jokes as Jenna adjusts to being a high-flying magazine editor, falls in love with the former childhood friend that she shunned years before (Mark Ruffalo) and generally finds being an adult just as cut-throat and difficult as being a kid ever was.
The film sets itself up for the comparison, and there's little denying the inevitable - 13 Going On 30 just isn't as good as Big. It's not as funny as Big, it doesn't experiment with the intriguing potential of the concept like Big and it's not as oddly touching as Big proved to be. What 13 Going on 30 is however is a slick, predictable romantic comedy full of those contrived moments that are either crowd-pleasing or cringe-worthy depending on what frame of mind you approach them. Witness, in an echo of Big's classic giant keyboard scene, a dying party transformed by an impromptu breakout into Michael Jackson's 'Thriller'. Even leaving aside the 80's disco soundtrack, the essential ingredients of this kind of movie haven't altered significantly in fifteen years.
One of the movie's central mistakes is to let the essentially tedious background plot (some nonsense about two rival fashion magazines) overwhelm the picture at the expense of character or laughs, a major failing for a breezy romantic comedy. The whole body swap idea is inexplicably sidelined to further other elements of the story, leading to some rather hefty plot contrivances - a 12 year old saving a toy company in Big somehow seemed a lot more plausible than a 13 year old single-handedly rescuing a fashion magazine!
Of course, 13 Going On 30 also exists to give Jennifer Garner a chance at the Hollywood big time, in a role that would almost have certainly been played by Sandra Bullock five years ago. In this Garner proves thankfully appealing, both in the early comic scenes as the lanky teenager adjusting to a strange new body and in the later ones where she develops into a fully-fledged romantic heroine. If she can't quite convey the predicament's range of conflicting emotions, Garner proves she has more than enough charm to carry a picture. 13 Going On 30 also offers Ruffalo a rare opportunity to play mainstream leading man after a string of excellent indie movie turns over the last few years. Here, as a much more straightforward nice guy, his character isn't permitted a great deal of depth but Ruffalo still imbues him with a believable honesty as he finds himself torn between his current fiancée and former childhood sweetheart. Star chemistry can make or break a film like this, and it's mainly down to Garner and Ruffalo that the movie proves so enjoyable despite its many shortcomings.
13 Going On 30, in an attempt to shift as many soundtracks as possible, overdoes the 80's nostalgia slightly and it's a shame it couldn't have been a little wittier. But, buoyed by the charisma of its star pairing and Tadpole director Gary Winick's polished sheen, it enters the rather large canon of entertaining but instantly forgettable Friday night date movies.
Matt McAllister
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