Fix: Slumber party classic, charming rom-com, a female Big
Platform: Hulu
Hulu Summary:
A girl makes a wish on her 13th birthday and wakes up the next day as a 30-year-old woman.
FYA Summary:
You know what else sounds impossible in addition to a girl jumping ahead in time 17 years? The fact that we’ve never freaking reviewed 13 Going on 30 on FYA!!! What the hell, y’all? What have we even been DOING?! How did our priorities get so absolutely out of WHACK?! Why have we been ignoring one of the best slumber party movies OF ALL TIME?!!
Well, today, ALL OF THAT CHANGES. I am here to worship at the altar of Jenna Rink and Matty Flamhaff (with a respectful nod to Judy Greer, and I mean Judy Greer, because Lucy Wyman sucks). I am here to discuss the fact that Razzles are both a candy and a gum. I am HERE to remind you that Mark Ruffalo trying to do the Thriller dance is the most adorable thing you will EVER see on screen. And, most importantly, I am HERE to ensure that if you’ve never watched 13 Going on 30, you will drop everything and hit play on this movie right goddamn NOW.
So, yeah, to sum up what all of us (minus the few of you who will be turning this movie on immediately after reading this post) already know: Jenna Rink is a 13-year-old girl desperate to be popular, in spite of the fact that she has a really good thing going with her best friend, Matty. After the popular girls (the Six Chicks, so cool y’all) snub her at her own freaking birthday party, Jenna makes a wish inspired by a magazine article to be “thirty, flirty, and thriving.” (Imagine someone writing that article today, JK you can’t, it’s unfathomable.) She wakes up the next morning to discover that she’s in a fancy NYC apartment, and oh yeah, she’s a gorgeous 30-year-old woman who works at a trendy magazine with her best friend, Lucy, a.k.a. head of the Six Chicks WHAT! She’s got her dream job, and a truly glorious walk-in closet, but oops, she’s also, maybe, kind of a bad person? Who doesn’t even talk to her old pal Matty anymore?
While Jenna adjusts to being an adult, she seeks out Matt, who is now a VERY handsome and charismatic photographer living in NYC. Matty is extremely perplexed (to put it lightly) by Jenna showing up out of nowhere, especially given how she treated him back in high school, but he’s also intrigued by this change in Jenna and their shared nostalgia for their old friendship. Cue up the swoon machine!!
As Jenna navigates her adult life—and the choices that lead her there—she struggles with how to reclaim her old self hidden inside this new body (which has boobs, by the way!!), all while trying to figure out how to return to 1987… if she even wants to?
Familiar Faces:
Jennifer Garner as Jenna; Mark Ruffalo as Matty
Look at these beautiful babies!!!
It’s tough for me to imagine anyone else but Jennifer Garner in this role. She channels a 13-year-old so effectively, from her wide-eyed facial expressions to her awkward mannerisms, and you absolutely 100% buy the idea that she is actually 13. It’s never annoying; it’s never over-the-top; it’s the most natural performance of an unnatural character. And y’all, she’s so pretty!!! I adore all of her outfits in this movie.
And then there’s Mark Ruffalo. MARK MASTER THESPIAN RUFFALO. This is not your standard “ideal man in a rom-com” casting, and the movie (and the romance) is all the better for it. Matty feels like a real dude, but also, a charismatic as all get out dude, and the way he fights his growing interest in Jenna just makes for blazin’ hot chemistry. Like, I’m happy for Mark Ruffalo that he’s so well-regarded and getting acting gigs with important and trailblazing directors but like, the rom-com genre NEEDS HIM BACK. Maybe we can get Yorgos Lanthimos to write one?!! Like Matty and Jenna end up in a weird time travel loop that involves Emma Stone and Razzles with mystic powers? Yeah, okay, I’m reaching.
Judy Greer as Lucy; Jennifer Garner as Jenna
Judy Greer plays the shit out of Lucy Wyman, and I love her for that. Honestly, any other actor would’ve made her too easy to hate (or too easy to forgive) but Judy absolutely nails the magnetism of a former Regina George. Like, in spite of her being a back-stabber, I’d still… be friends with her? Maybe? Also, her reactions to Jenna’s weirdness-caused-by-being-13 are comedy gold.
Also, just a shout-out to Andy Serkis who is in this movie! Not sure how that happened but cool!
Couch-Sharing Capability: Thirty
Cue up “Love Is a Battlefield” and invite all of your BFFs over because this movie was made for slumber parties. Whether you’ve seen it 100 times or never, 13 Going on 30 will always leave you with a goofy smile on your face, a little melting in your heart, and the need for makeovers, stat!
Recommended Level of Inebriation: Flirty
This movie makes me positively giddy, with or without alcohol, but it sure is fun to get a little tipsy, especially with a ridiculous frozen beverage like Jenna orders at the party.
Use of Your Streaming Subscription: Thriving
I honestly feel SO lucky that I got to see this film back in 2004 with my friends in a theater. It was such a delight, and I couldn’t wait to see it again. Back then, that meant buying a ticket to another showtime, and then waiting for the DVD to come out, but nowadays, you can watch this movie whenever you want to. WHAT A WORLD! I feel just like Jenna Rink, marveling at the future. Minus the closet.
Man, I really wish I had that closet.
Ah the movie that made me love Jennifer Garner and Mark Ruffalo (and Judy Greer!). I have to watch it every time it’s on cable.
I was already a fan of Jennifer Garner (because of ALIAS) but obviously this was a very different role for her! And she nailed it.