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The Main Characters
--Jenna Rink (Jennifer Garner) is a 13-year-old girl desperately trying to fit in. She throws a party on her thirteenth birthday and when things go bad, she wishes she were 30. The magic of wishing dust makes it possible and Jenna fast-forwards 17 years and she sees how her life has turned out.
--Matt Flamhaff (Mark Ruffalo) is Jenna’s best friend as young teenagers. When Jenna magically turns 30, she immediately seeks out Matt and the two renew old acquaintances.
--Lucy “Tom-Tom” Wyman (Judy Greer) is the leader of the most popular clique (“The Six Chicks”) in school. 17 years later, she is Jenna’s best friend and even co-employees at Poise magazine.
The Setting
New York City and Surrounding Suburbs.
The Plot
Jenna Rink is an awkward 13-year-old living in the late 80’s. She goes to school and feverishly tries to get in favor with the premiere clique of her school, the Six Chicks, headed by none other than “Tom-Tom.” They are concerned only with themselves and their image. Jenna’s best friend is equally awkward Matt Flamhaff, who is an avid photographer but sees through the materialistic six chicks. On her 13th birthday, Jenna invites the Six Chicks to her party. She spurns Matt to get in favor with them but they turn on her anyway and leave the party, leaving Jenna in the closet waiting for the hottest guy in school to join her for some none-PG fun. When Jenna learns that they abandoned her, she wishes to be grown up. Luckily, there is wishing dust that falls on her and the next thing we know, Jenna’s 30 years old. Of course, her mind is the 13-year-old Jenna since we fast-forwarded.
Now Jenna has to cope with being 30 and living in a world she knows nothing about. She finds she works for Poise magazine with her best friend Tom-Tom (now Lucy) and after tracking down Matt learns she became the most popular girl in school. Jenna seems to have had the perfect life. Of course, she soon realizes just how she has gotten there and how it conflicts to the way she thought she would turn out as a 13 year old.
Movie Review
At first, the obvious comparisons to Tom Hanks’, “Big” surface. A kid in an adult’s body? Been there, done that. It’s not really the same though. In Big, the main character grows overnight, but is still in the same time period and everything was the same as when he went to bed that night, except he’s older looking. Here, Jenna goes to bed one night and wakes up 17 years older, and 17 years in the future. Talk about culture shock. Jenna is lost in an unknown world while in Big, it was the same world. In the end, it works well as a romantic comedy. If you can get your head around the fact that her 13-year-old mind is transported 17 years into the future, then you’ve got yourself an enjoyable movie. It has its funny moments (my favorite being the Thriller sequence) and seeing Jenna try to live in a world that’s passed her by is humorous enough. Even so, the predictable plot twists are present as Jenna meets again with Matt and learns he is engaged but she starts having feelings for him and the protagonist is pretty much shown from the start. I won’t reveal anything but if you’ve seen enough romantic comedies you will be able to predict what happens along 30 minutes into the movie. It’s still an excellent movie though. I have seen it probably dozens of times (hey my girlfriend loves this movie) and I never get sick of it. A very well done movie with its funny parts, touching moments and perfect resolution at the end. **1/2.
DVD Features
A) Extras
1) Director’s Commentary
This commentary is done by Gary Winick and this is his first big budget film. The best thing about this is it really is a “small time” director talking about making this huge film. He mentions you can make 110 indie films for the budget of this one. He complains about New York City not feeling real since the cars don’t go buy as he knows they would (since he lived in NYC) and that’s a gripe he mentions with the film. The commentary is very informative and he is very honest about the film, which I like, like the parts he liked, the parts he didn’t like filming but knew he had too (the pajama-sleepover scene). Overall, excellently done.
2) Producers Commentary
The producers commenting on this commentary are: Donna Arkoff Roth, Susan Arnold and Gina Matthews. The commentary is very different from Gary’s as they talk about more girly things. Honestly, it didn’t really hold my interest but female listeners would probably like it more than I.
3) Deleted Scenes (26:59)
---A) Sparkle This (4:07) - This is an extended sequence at the Poise office when Jenna first wakes up. The scene is basically longer with Jenna’s assistant being thrown out by Richard.
---B) See A Doctor (1:24) – This is when Jenna sees Matt for the first time and he suggests she sees a doctor, which she does, and then she finds out she hasn’t seen Matt in over a decade!
---C) Makeup / Lingerie Montage (2:44) – A longer version of Jenna putting on her makeup and dressing up. It includes the, “What am I a stripper?” line as well.
---D) Meeting Pete Hansen (1:14) – This is Jenna meeting Pete Hansen at the party. This is the dude she’s cheating on who she knees in the nads if you don’t remember.
---E) Original Shopping Montage (1:46) – This is the original shopping montage. Just different scenes of her shopping. Not too much else.
---F) Striptease (1:33) – This is more of Alex’ strip tease. They show Jenna playing Treasure Hunt on Alex’ back.
---G) No Games At All (:20) – This is Jenna saying the No Games at All Line to Lucy on the cell phone instead of to the young girl.
---H) Walking With Trish (:39) – Jenna walks down the street and runs into Trish and Jenna has no idea about what Trish is talking about. We find out later on but I guess it was too much foreshadowing.
---I) Pete Visits Jenna (:25) – More with Jenna kneeing Pete in the balls.
---J) Sad Jenna Montage (1:39) – An extended scene of first Jenna hearing how her friends make fun of her, going back to her house and losing power and then seeing Matt.
---K) Alex Breakup (1:21) – Jenna breaks up with Alex and he gets really upset about it. Awww!
---L) Slumber Party (1:33) – More slumber party fun!!! This is Jenna lecturing the girls.
---M) Original Sparkle Reveal (1:18) – The original Sparkle reveal was much more mundane. Jenna picks up her presentation while working on it and they show Sparkle letters.
---N) Jenna’s Presentation (1:23) – Jenna talks more about her presentation and the crowd response.
---O) Matt Doesn’t Show (:41) – Jenna goes to see Matt and waits for him, but he doesn’t show!!!
---P) Rainy Walk (:31) – Jenna then walks home dejected.
---Q) Real Pain for My Sham Friends (1:26) – Jenna and Richard talk about the end of Poise. Sod ‘em says Richard.
---R) Call From Mom / Junk Food / Long Cab Ride (2:56) – So Jenna goes home, gets a call from her mom, eats junk food with the young girl who yells at her, then she goes home in the cab.
Overall, a wide variety of scenes that are shown in sequential order but you can tell that a lot of them just drag which is why they were cut from the movie. Still, a very good look at some of the scenes mentioned by the director in the commentary so it’s nice to see they are included.
4) Making of a Teen Dream (18:51)
Ahh, the good ol’ making of featurette. It’s standard on most DVD’s but you really miss them when they aren’t on the DVD. They talk about the actors, the characters in the movie, the director, the clothing and packed as much into 19 minutes as they good. Worth a look, definitely.
5) I Was a Teenage Geek (8:01)
This is a segment on the main actors talking about growing up in the 80’s and being geeks. Jennifer was a band geek, apparently. Judy was the biggest geek of them all and the pictures show it! Damn!
6) Bloopers (3:16)
Yay! The bloopers reel!!! It’s actually pretty good, it’s mostly them improving and what not. Pretty good.
7) Fun and Games
There are two games: 80’s Outfit Challenge and Then and Now. The fun 80’s outfit is dressing little Jenna and Tom-Tom and you have to match them properly. Once you get it right, you get a little clip of the actress who played the character in a mini-interview. So of course, like a fruit, I get Tom-tom’s right on the first try. The young Tom-Tom talks about the punch scene where she gets the juice splashed on her. I can’t seem to figure out the young Jenna one though. Then and Now is a stupid matching game and they show Lucy talking about how great Jennifer Garner is.
8) Music Videos
---A) Pat Benatar: “Love is a Battlefield” (5:21)
Wow, talk about old! The Video Quality looks like it is a 6th or 7th generation dub. Talk about a turning point in Pat’s career too. She was considered a bit of a rocker and here she is dancing. Pretty bad video to watch nowadays, it hasn’t aged well at all.
---B) Rick Springfield: “Jessie’s Girl” (3:17)
The Video Quality is slightly better on this than on “Love is a Battlefield” and again the video hasn’t aged well. Still, it’s a catchy song.
9) Video Gallery (2:04)
This is a 2-minute gallery of shots shown over the bits of the score of the film. It’s real nice if you like pictures.
10) Previews (17:00)
There are previews for: 13 Going on 30 (2:32), Seinfeld (1:44), Anacondas (2:20), Hellboy (1:26), Little Black Book (2:32), Secret Window (2:14), The Forgotten (1:40) and White Chicks (2:32). The only movie I’ve seen out of here was Secret Window and I have done a DVD review for that already. I have the Seinfeld DVD review upcoming as well (PLUG!). Anaconda I have never seen and have no desire too. Hellboy I’ve seen a million times at work, and never with sound. So I guess it was alright? Little Black Book was on TV recently and I got through 15 minutes before it was turned off. Forgotten looks interesting so I should see it eventually. White Chicks, well, whatever. The 13 Going on 30 trailer, it should be said, is a very good preview of the movie.
B) Audio/Video
We have us here a movie heard in Dolby Digital 5.1 and shown in anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen. The DD is there, really. How much do you need for a romantic comedy? The picture itself is very good. It is a very colorful film and never are the colors lost. They are always bright, vibrant, and all other adjectives you can think of.
C) Liner Notes
No Liner Notes, just a sheet of paper really.
D) Easter Eggs
None
Overall Review
This starts off with previews for: Seinfeld, White Chicks and Little Black Book. The DVD is actually quite good which is surprising. It was actually a very good movie and the DVD content was very apt. The deleted scenes were actually very nice and the best part is they were in sequential order! So you don’t have to worry about where it was supposed to go in the film. It’s little things like that that earns points. The “I was a Teenage Geek” feature was very fun and its nice to see the superstars talking candidly like that. The making of was short and sweet, and very full of content. There’s even games for the kiddies, and music videos! Very well rounded disc that really caught me off guards with how good it was. Definitely a recommendation from me!
Overall Rating
8.5
10.0 Perfect
9.0-9.5 Near Perfect, Highly Recommended
8.0-8.5 Really good disc, Recommended
7.0-7.5 Good DVD, Mildly recommended
6.0-6.5 Above Average DVD. Mildest of mild recommendations
5.0-5.5 Decent all around disc, but catch it on TV
4.0-4.5 Great Movie but horrible DVD
3.0-3.5 Horrible movie but great DVD
2.0-2.5 There’s at least some merit to this DVD, but not much.
1.0-1.5 Horrible DVD, don’t even bother
0.0-0.5 Worst DVD ever
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