'13 going on 30' makes 'Big' impression

By Jack Garner
Gannett News Service

13 GOING ON 30 (PG-13) Two-and-a-Half Stars (Fair-to-Good) A Big-like comedy about a 13-year-old girl who gets her wish and becomes instantly 30. However, she's shocked to discover she compromised all her values and isn't leading the life she would have liked. Jennifer Garner is fabulous — the best thing in a film that is otherwise superficial. Gary Winick directs. Columbia, 97 minutes.

Be careful what you wish for. That's the lesson of "13 Going on 30."

Jenna Rink (Christa B. Allen) is a gangly, overeager 13-year-old who just can't wait to be 30. Suddenly, she gets her wish, waking up in her own posh Manhattan apartment (and now played by Jennifer Garner). Imagine her shock when she discovers she has a boyfriend (who just slept over), and a high-powered job as the editor of a chic-and-trendy magazine called Poise.

But she wakes as if she'd been asleep for 17 years — she still has the knowledge, attitude, emotional level and outlook of a 13-year-old. When it comes to her fellow "adults," she has to fake it, at least until she bones up on all sorts of things, from magazine editing to fashion sense.

There also are shocks. It turns out her best friend and co-editor, Lucy (Judy Greer) was the classmate who led the school's hottest clique — and who tortured young Jenna mercilessly. Jenna realizes with embarrassment that she must have turned her back on her decent friends and compromised a lot of values to hang out with Lucy.

Jenna also looks up her oldest friend and neighbor, Matt, and discovers he's grown into a handsome and immensely likeable photographer (Mark Ruffalo). But he's surprised she's looked him up. It seems she also had turned her back on him when she dumped her old circle. So now, like a sexy, young Rip Van Winkle, she's going to try to make up for lost time. Boy, you're probably thinking, this sounds familiar. Of course: It's "Big," with the boy-turned-man converted into a girl-turned-woman.

But such films can be showcases for young actors who must apply a juvenile attitude to an adult world, in ways that seem plausible and also entertain. I knew Tom Hanks was going to be a huge star the moment he cowered lonely and afraid on the bed as a confused adult in a fleabag Times Square apartment in "Big."

Likewise, "13 Going on 30" could be a launching pad for Garner. Though the film is less substantial and less magical than "Big," it still frames an exuberant, often-funny performance by Garner. She masterfully conveys the breakneck energy, impulsive nature and joyful innocence of a child trapped in an adult body.

It's a wonderful, highly physical performance, by far the best thing about a project that is otherwise, rather superficial.

Long after this carbon-copy flick is forgotten, you'll remember Garner's vibrant, full-throttle performance.

Rated PG-13, profanity, innuendo.