#2 "13 Going on 30"

Stats: 2004. Starring Jennifer Garner & Mark Ruffalo. PG-13.

Background: I saw this in the theater opening weekend. It was actually the weekend before graduation, so it was the last movie I saw with several of my college friends. That summer, I was thrilled when I found Razzles, a candy that plays a rather sizable role in the movie, in my local Dollar Tree. The candy isn’t nearly as good as the movie!

Reactions: Throw any kind of time travel or time loop into a movie, and you’ve got me. This is precisely why I rented the horrible, horrible Jonathan Silverman movie 12:01. But I digress …

Jennifer Garner is perfect in this movie as Jenna, the 13-year-old who wakes up 17 years in the future. It kind of has a Samantha Who? vibe to it, also, as Jenna doesn’t remember anything about her life in those intervening 17 years and is a much better person than the previous version of herself was. (Granted, this movie came first, so maybe I should say that Samantha Who? has a 13 Going on 30 vibe to it!) Judy Greer is spectacular as Jenna’s frenemy Lucy, and the romance between Jenna and Matt, her childhood best friend, is realistic and heartbreaking. I especially appreciate Matt’s responsible and adult choice regarding Jenna near the end of the movie … and I love that the time thing works in their favor and they get a “redo”!

Watch for a young looking Jim Gaffigan (whom I know as PJ’s brother on My Boys) as the grown up version of Jenna’s middle school crush Chris Grandy.

I could watch this movie over and over again … and I have!

Verdict: Keep