Movie review
“13 Going on 30”
Jennifer Garner (“Daredevil,” TV’s “Alias”) gives butt-kicking a
rest to try her hand at romantic comedy with “13 Going on 30,” her
first leading-lady role in a major motion picture. Although the
comparisons to “Big” are inescapable, the film has enough
distinction and charm to make it an allowable revisit of a familiar
setup.
Garner plays Jenna Rink, a 30-year-old fashion magazine editor
who, until just recently, was a 13-year-old girl enduring the
social pains of young teen-age life. Her rapid transformation
occurs thanks to, what else, a packet of wishing dust and a desire
to leave her youth behind.
Jenna eventually learns that during the time lapse of her age
spurt, she became a self-centered snob who has put her career over
everything and everyone else in her life. Naturally, the
13-year-old within her seeks to set right the wrongs caused by her
adult self.
The main goal on her agenda is to track down Matty, a
neighbor/friend from her childhood whose heart she broke
immediately before she jumped ahead 17 years. Matt, played by Mark
Ruffalo, is no longer the chubby kid Jenna remembers and she
quickly develops the kind of feelings for him that he felt for her
many years ago. The only problem is that Matt not only harbors hurt
feelings because of Jenna rejecting him in the past, but he is also
now engaged to another woman.
An unintentional awkwardness unfortunately pervades throughout a
lot of the movie, but there are a few good laughs and some positive
messages. The movie may mistakenly cause girls, or maybe some guys
too for that matter, to think they can fix their mistakes by
tracking down some wishing dust themselves, but it does promote
some good lessons about the consequences of making bad choices in
life.
Contained within “13 Going on 30” is about every romantic comedy
clich� known to Hollywood. A scene where a group of girls
dance around and lip-sync to a popular song? Check. A scene where a
main character races desperately to stop a wedding from happening?
Check. How about a scene where everyone takes part in a
choreographed dance sequence? Check. Although I will say this last
scene somehow manages to be more funny than embarrassing.
Even when the movie isn’t winning over the audience with
greatness or originality, it is still pretty entertaining to watch.
“13 Going on 30” is first and foremost a star vehicle intended to
propel Jennifer Garner’s movie career, and she exudes such
enthusiasm and gusto in the role that the movie will likely
accomplish this goal. You can tell she is having such a blast in
the movie herself that her fun level becomes infectious, which
helps to forgive the film some of its faults.
The movie is largely a female fantasy, but isn’t completely
painful for guys. Garner’s girl-next-door hotness has earned her a
large fan base of adoring male fans and Ruffalo has such a great
guy’s-guy type of quality that he helps to balance out some of the
film’s giddiness.
Maybe it’s just that I am a big fan of Garner and Ruffalo, who
work great together by the way, or maybe it’s that a few of the
film’s plot developments hit home for me, or maybe “13 Going on 30”
actually is a good movie; either way, I liked it just enough to
endorse.
3 out of 4
“Man on Fire”
The latest addition in a recent string of violent, revenge
movies stars Denzel Washington as Creasy, a man out to find and
kill the people responsible for the kidnapping of a young girl,
played by perennial kidnap victim Dakota Fanning (see
“Trapped”).
I usually appreciate director Tony Scott’s in-your-face, stylish
approach to filmmaking, but he uses his signature style to such
overkill here, including an incredibly awful experiment with
subtitle use, that it becomes grating.
The performances are rather superb and the storyline involving,
however not only is the pre-kidnapping section of the film
surprisingly better, but Creasy never gets much, if any, of the
character development and hinted-at back story that he so badly
needs and the audience deserves.
2.5 out of 4
“13 Going on 30”
PG-13
1 hour 37 minutes
Carmike 10, Cinemark 16, Holiday Twin Drive-In
“Man on Fire”
R
2 hours 26 minutes
Carmike 10, Cinemark 16, Holiday Twin Drive-In
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.