Disclaimer: No, I don’t make a habit of watching these kind of movies by my own choice. My good friend Lauren and I occasionally make movie trade-off deals where I force her to watch an awesome guy movie and she forces me to watch some [presumably] stupid girly movie. Theoretically, it’s just supposed to be a general movie trade off, but I think our spite for each other always tends to result in genre extremes. She has to watch Boondock Saints soon.
Basic plot: A 13 year old girl wishes she was 30, and gets her wish. Immediately.
This was nowhere near as bad as I was expecting. In fact, dare I say it, I sort of enjoyed it for what it was: The girly version of Big. As you should know, Big is awesome. Big is also about a boy that suddenly becomes a grown man, obviously making it a bajillion times more relatable. Plus, it stars Tom Hanks, which is like an instant win.
13 Going on 30 stars the adorable Jennifer Garner, who is entirely too cute to hate on. The story is pretty cookie-cutter, but if you’re expecting more than that from a movie like this then you’re expecting a bit much. Some of the individual elements within the story were more original that I expected, however. For instance, I liked the idea that the movie started in 1987, then jumped to “modern day” which allowed it to poke fun at both the ’80s, modern day, AND adolescence. It was an entertaining mix. Mark Ruffalo and Andy Serkis were really likable supporting cast, but no matter how you break it down this entire movie is about what it’s like to have the mindset of thirteen year old girl – which I can’t say is something I have any experience with nor was I even curious about it, but it still wasn’t boring.
Several of the scenes got pretty big laughs out of me (though the “Thriller” scene is the only one I actually remember). If you have to watch a chick-flick, there are much, much worse ones to sit through. I’d never buy it for my collection and I don’t really care if I see it again, but just the same I wouldn’t mind if someone forced me to watch it again.
If you’re a girl and haven’t seen it, check it out. I’m sure girls love it. If you’re a guy, there’s absolutely no reason not to forget about it unless a girl forces you to watch it. If she does, don’t worry, you should survive. Jennifer Garner will keep you company.
March 22nd, 2009 at 10:39 am
See. I told you that you wouldn’t end up hating it. (:
(But next time if you wait until I am finished writing an extremely important essay then you will get a movie more up to your standards.)
March 22nd, 2009 at 10:49 am
Haha, alright, that’s fair. Sorry I don’t know your homework schedule.
March 23rd, 2009 at 12:02 am
This is one of those areas in which the rest of the “chicks” out there probably want to force me to turn in my “chick” card. I don’t love this movie. I saw it when it first came out, and was proud of myself for sitting through the whole thing the one time. But I’m just not a big fan of “let’s see how many mortifingly embarrassing situations we can put this girl through” kinds of stories.
Of course, I spent Saturday re-watching the Bourne movies, if that’s any indication of where I fall on the “chick-ness” scale.
March 23rd, 2009 at 8:48 am
Kaye, never ever ever ever watch Carrie.
But really, in 13 Going on 30, the only part of the movie I remember focusing on her embarrassment that much were the first fifteen minutes or so. After she grew up it seemed like no one really had the balls to be particularly mean to her on a personal level.
But still, you do seem to go for an unusual amount of action movies for a girl.