CS Daily Archive > Weekend Read > 04/23/04

Has This Generation Grown Up Anyway?

By Matthew Reynolds

Another body-switching excursion, with a fun twist for everyone who grew up in the '80s --predictable, but the stars engage you where the script doesn't.

13 Going on 30

Cathy Yuspa & Josh Goldsmith and Niels Mueller

Jenna Rink (Jennifer Garner), fresh from practicing her "Thriller" dance moves, is eager for her thirteenth birthday party, where it looks like at long last she'll be accepted into the ranks of cool. When kissing game circumstances find her in the closet with frumpy chum Matt instead of a dreamier boy, she wishes herself out of junior high and into adulthood -- and wakes up as the stunning 30-year-old editor of a white-hot magazine in Manhattan. But as Jenna rushes about, piecing together what she's done with her life 17 years into her future, she realizes that the road of popularity has been littered with some not-so-nice decisions. Her reunion with a now-older Matt (Mark Ruffalo) sinks it -- being herself is what is most important, even if that isn't so cool as it may seem.

13 Going on 30's premise is so familiar it now qualifies as a genre. If I were to wake up tomorrow in the body of a dog, I would shrug and wait blissfully for myself to learn whatever lesson I needed to, confident all would be restored in due time. At least this particular lesson is blessed with some solid acting talent.

The story and set-up here are structurally sound, but nothing really shines; just goes to show you that structure, like coolness, is only the beginning. If this film really said something about growing up and popularity -- even if the message was bittersweet -- it could have been the difference between a decently fun movie (which it is) and something great (which it isn't). And yet, somehow it's so light on its feet that it gets away without answering the poignant questions, like what Jenna thinks of missing out on all kinds of first- time experiences (kissing, drinking, and all the other things that spring to mind).

This has been called Big for girls, but it's worth it noting another interesting comparison. This film starts in 1987 -- coincidentally is the year before the Penny Marshall film -- and while Jenna is roughly the same age as Big's hero Josh, she fast- forwards in time to being an adult. It's remarkable to note the world she has stepped into is so similar to that which she left: Prince is still on magazine covers, and when she insists on playing "Thriller" at a party, everybody gets into it. While this scene may not be as timeless as Tom Hanks and Robert Loggia dancing on the floor-length keyboard, does it say something about the adult world that we as adults have created? The grown-up Jenna has far more in common with her magazine co-workers than the grown-up Josh did with the toy company executives. Did Generation X in fact learn a lesson back then -- that by bringing our childhood with us to keep away the gloom of adulthood, we wouldn't turn into Big's miserable grown-ups? Or is it the reverse: that extended adolescence has prevented us from maturing?

Don't think too hard, just relax and watch Garner get away with more murder here than in a whole season of Alias.

13 Going on 30
Columbia Pictures
Rated PG-13; 97 min.

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Matthew Reynolds is a former journalist now working in feature film development. He is not responsible for items lost or stolen during the reading of this article.

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