Jenna Rink’s thirteenth birthday party is a disaster. The popular girls humiliate her, her best friend Matt made her a dollhouse she does not want, and she locks herself in the closet with wishing dust and wishes to be thirty. She wakes up in a Manhattan apartment, in Jennifer Garner’s body, with a hockey player boyfriend and a job at the magazine she loved as a kid. 13 Going on 30 is Big for girls, and it has aged better than most of its decade.
What Happens In 2004
Jenna finds out that adult Jenna is not a nice person. She is the one who has been leaking Poise magazine’s ideas to a rival. She has not spoken to Matt in years. He is now a photographer, played by Mark Ruffalo, engaged to someone else. Jenna, with a thirteen-year-old’s mind, redesigns the magazine around real people, does the Thriller dance at a party that is going nowhere, and goes to find Matt at his parents’ house. The ending gives her the choice back.
Why It Became Comfort Viewing
Garner commits completely to being thirteen, including the sleepover with the girls from downstairs. Judy Greer as Lucy is the villain and the funniest person in it. Andy Serkis, mid-Gollum, is the magazine’s editor and dances. The Razzles are real sweets. The Thriller scene is on every rewatch list.
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