Blu-Ray/Movie Review: 13 Going on 30

 

13 Going on 30 is a 2004 romantic comedy directed by Gary Winick and starring Jennifer Garner, Mark Ruffalo, Judy Greer, and Andy Serkis. The supporting cast includes Christa B. Allen, Alexandra Kyle, Sean Marquette, Kathy Baker, Renee Olstead, Samuel Ball, Phil Reeves, and Marcia DeBonis. It also includes Jim Gaffigan, Kiersten Warren, Brie Larson, and Ashley Benson in very minor bit parts. It starts in 1987 with a girl named Jenna Rink (Allen) turning 13. She is a nerdy kid whose best friend is her next-door neighbor Matt (Marquette), who is also nerdy and has a huge crush on Jenna. She desperately wants to be part of the popular group of girls at her school, nicknamed The Six Chicks, led by the most popular girl, Lucy/"Tom-Tom" (Kyle). Jenna ends up wishing that she were "thirty, flirty, and thriving" and, through the magic of movies, wakes up in 2004 as a 30-year-old (played by Garner) in New York City. The last thing she remembers is being humiliated by the Six Chicks at her birthday party, with no memory of the intervening 17 years. She ends up tracking down Matt (played by Ruffalo) and enlists his help to figure out what happened, discovering that she does not like who she ultimately grew up to be.

The Blu-Ray is a single-disc release. The A/V quality is very good, with an outstanding HD video transfer and very good 5.1 channel audio transfer. The bonus content includes two commentary tracks on the film: a director's commentary by Winick and a producer's commentary by two of the film's producers, Gina Matthews and Susan Arnold. Then there are just under a half hour's worth of deleted scenees, a couple of making-of featurettes, a featurette on 80s fashion, a featurette in which the cast members discuss their awkward teenage years, and two music videos (Pat Benatar's "Love is a Battlefield" and Rick Springfield's "Jessie's Girl," both of which are featured in the movie). Finally, there are trailers for three other films, but not the trailer for 13 Going on 30 itself. 

The movie is a fun and pretty innocent romantic comedy. It is to millennials what the movie "Big" was to Gen-Xers. The best way I can describe the movie is that it is what you would get if you mixed Big with the other huge 2004 comedy, "Mean Girls." Garner, who was still in her run as a TV action star playing Sidney Bristow on Alias, proved that she has great comedic acting skills. She totally made you buy that she was a clueless and innocent 13-year-old in the body of a smoking hot 30-year-old. Greer (who plays the adult version of Lucy) was great in her role, and Ruffalo was perfect for the part of the adult version of Matt. It is not a raunchy comedy by any means; there are some sex jokes and a couple of swear words thrown in, but it is definitely appropriate for a PG-13 audience, and can be enjoyed by adults (especially those who were in middle school or high school in the late 80s/early 90s). There are several laugh-out-loud moments, and the film features a wonderful 1980s soundtrack. While parts of it are a bit corny, it does hold up well even after 20-plus years. It is absolutely worth watching.