13 Going On 30 made Jennifer Garner a rom-com star—and gave tween girls a sleepover staple

https://film.avclub.com/13-going-on-30-made-jennifer-garner-a-rom-com-star-and-1838761282

Middle school is a special kind of hell, so it helps to have some sympathetic pop culture to get you through it. For those coming of age in the early aughts, that likely included 2004’s 13 Going On 30, a romantic comedy that skews toward the younger end of the all-ages spectrum. It did okay at the box office, but earned a second life as a sleepover favorite. It was one of the four films that Ariana Grande—who would’ve been about 11 when it was released—homaged in her “Thank U, Next” music video. When star Jennifer Garner posted a thank you on Instagram, Grande excitedly commented: “I watched this movie every night before bed growing up (and I still do sometimes, especially when I’m sad). I adore you! Thank you for all the inspiration and joy you’ve brought to my life.”

Prior to her winning comedic turn as a 13-year-old trapped in a 30-year-old’s body, Garner was known almost exclusively as a badass action hero. Alias was in its third season and she had just starred as Elektra in Daredevil the year before. She was yearning to shift her public persona a bit, so—as she explained on David Tennant’s podcast—she signed on for her first starring film role in what she lovingly referred to as a “wacko little movie that had no percent chance of being any good.” 13 Going On 30 unveiled a new sweet, funny, guileless side of Garner’s personality, one that’s a whole lot closer to her real-life demeanor. As she put it in one behind-the-scenes featurette, “I’ve never seen myself smile so much in something.”

13 Going On 30 is endearingly empathetic to the preteen girl experience. Garner prepped for the film by hanging out with middle schoolers, and many of the best scenes pair her with actual preteen girls, getting a ton of comedic mileage out of how perfectly she fits in with their dynamic. Garner projects just the right blend of innocence and savvy that defines a kid on the cusp of teenagehood. And the extensive dance background that proved so helpful in her action career translates to some phenomenal physical comedy skills, too. In the scene where she first wakes up in her new body, Garner moves as if she’s being pulled by puppet strings, conveying the complete sense of disconnection she feels from her newly lengthened limbs.

Despite the universal praise for Garner’s performance, 13 Going On 30 was otherwise pretty tepidly reviewed. A lot of critics dinged the film for being too much of a knockoff of Penny Marshall’s 1988 classic Big. It’s a clear source of inspiration (and the comparison is actually a compliment, in terms of how much Garner captures the winning spirit that earned Tom Hanks his first Oscar nomination), but the two films technically have distinct premises. In Big, Hanks plays a 12-year-old kid who wakes up in an adult body in his present-day life. In 13 Going On 30, however, 13-year-old Jenna Rink (Christa B. Allen) wishes to be “thirty, flirty and thriving” and inadvertently sends her consciousness forward into her future life, jumping from 1987 to 2004 in the process. 13 Going On 30 isn’t just a body swap comedy. It’s also a time-travel movie.

Whereas Big is generally interested in the line between childhood and adulthood and warns against growing up too fast, 13 Going On 30 is much more didactic with its message. The closest comparison point is the final sequence of A Christmas Carol, where the Ghost Of Christmas Yet To Come takes Scrooge forward in time to show him what the future holds for him if he continues his miserly ways. In 13 Going On 30, Jenna learns there’s a cost to achieving all of her middle school dreams. She may have a spectacular apartment, a hunky boyfriend, and an impressive fashion magazine editor job (not to mention a former prom queen title), but she became a pretty horrible person on the way to getting those things.

Though the message is pat, the time travel element allows 13 Going On 30 to function as a metaphor in a way that Big doesn’t. Jenna’s confusion about her newfound life doubles as an allegory for a quarter-life crisis, which is mostly how her former best friend Matt Flamhaff (Mark Ruffalo) takes it when Jenna shows up at his door asking why they haven’t spoken since they were 13. Her desire to return to the simplicity of childhood is literal, but it rings equally true for Matt too. Who hasn’t suddenly looked around at their adult life and wondered how they got there? The most moving sequence is a montage set to Billy Joel’s “Vienna” in which Jenna flees the difficulties of adulthood to escape to the comfort of her parents’ house—a fantasy that’s just as relatable for 30-year-olds as 13-year-olds.