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 Jena
Rink is on the cusp of teenagerdom; a bright but geeky
outsider, she longs to fit in with the cool girls at school,
but always ends up hanging out with her best friend and
neighbour, Matt. By offering to do their science report, Jena
convinces the cool kids to come to her birthday party, but
they play a cruel trick on her and Matt. Humiliated and
unhappy, Jena wishes to be 'thirty, flirty, and thriving' as
some wishing dust falls on her head. She wakes up the next
morning in a strange apartment, thirty years old, editor of
her favourite magazine Poise, and completely bewildered.
Who's this naked man in her apartment? Whose apartment is
this anyway? What's that strange ringing sound coming from
her bag? Jena remembers nothing about her adult life and has
to start making sense of it pdq.
Naturally, her first thought is to find Matt. Now a
photographer living in Greenwich Village, Matt hasn't spoken
to Jena since her thirteenth birthday party. Jena also begins
to realise that she is hated and feared by most of the other
employees at the magazine, and that she has become so
successful by being a ruthlessly ambitious bitch who no
longer sees her parents or has any real friends. After a
conversation with her mother about regret, Jena sets out to
make amends for her past behaviour; renewing her friendship
with Matt and busting a gut at the troubled Poise.
 There
are two sides to the film - one, the duck out of water,
straightforward comic set up of being a thirteen year old in
an adult's body, is very funny. Jennifer Garner is a superb
physical comedian with excellent timing. She perfectly
imitates the scrunched up 'gross' face and the goofy
sweetness of the younger Jena and nails details like the
awkward, bum-out posture of the novice heels wearer, and her
sheer delight in having breasts. She looks like she's having
a blast and she takes you along for the ride.
The other, though, is less successful. The film seems to be
making a point about working women which is confusing and
reactionary. It suggests that for a woman to have a
high-powered career she has to be a ruthless, selfish, and
callous person, who has no real friends and will betray
colleagues at the drop of a hat. The scenes depicting the
magazine where Jena works are unconvincing, and Jena's idea
for the redesign of Poise is so bizarre that you can only
imagine that the actors went along with it because it said so
in the script.
But this quibble aside, 13 Going On 30 is good fun,
infectiously silly, and has some genuine laugh-out-loud
moments. The supporting cast, including Mark Ruffalo, Judy
Greer and Andy Serkis, are excellent, but the film belongs to
Jennifer Garner. In her first lead role, she acquits herself
with aplomb. And it's worth the price of admission alone to
see Gollum doing the moonwalk.
Review by Michelle Thomas
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