13 GOING ON 30

           

13 Going on 30, a 2004 film directed by Gary Winick is definitely the comedy, fantasy and romance film that is indeed suitable most especially for teenagers who desire and try to be matured and whose rushing things to be someone like a grown-up in order to get along with other people whom they think are ‘cooler’ than them. The film is all about Jenna Rink (Jennifer Garner), who is trying to fit in with the school’s clique named, “Six Chicks.” Jenna Rink is celebrating her 13th Birthday in 1987, she has a wish, and that is to be thirty to be different and thinking that it would ease her insecurities. Matt Flamhaff (Mark Ruffalo), Jenna’s best friend gave her, her dream dollhouse and accompanying it, a “magic wishing dust.” As Jenna felt upset with what happened on her Birthday, because of Lucy, the leader of the Six Chicks who did something that ruined the party, Jenna mistakenly thought that it was all because of Matt’s fault.

As Jenna felt angry and saddened, she entered into a closet and as she bumps back and forth, the magic wishing dust fell on her and after some seconds, she was transformed into a thirty year-old woman. A successful, gorgeous and sexy New York fashion magazine editor, living in an apartment with a live-in athlete boyfriend and who cannot remember even a single thing about her and to what had happened before when she was just a 13-year-old preteen. After all, she realized that those things would not satisfy her still and that would not complete her. She then looked for her childhood best friend, Matt and only to find out that he has already changed and was already engaged to somebody else. As Matt gave back the dollhouse to Jenna, Jenna, not knowing that the magic wishing dust is still working, her dream came true to be back in the old time. 

At the end, they were still the one who got married. The adult themselves, Jenna and Matt living in a house similarly the same with the dollhouse Matt gave to Jenna before.

Talking about the directing of Gary Winick, he was able to create some scenes that would amplify the emotions of the spectators of the film to laugh, knowing that 13 Going on 30 is a comedy film. However, he was not able to justify all of the genres of the film at the same level. I, having watched the film, would not think that the film is a comedy movie without knowing that it is. The film was more on a fantasy and romance film. As what you can see in the film, Jenna became a thirty-year-old woman, so different from what she was before when she was 13 years old and that happened because of the magic wishing dust Matt gave her on her 13^th Birthday. In this scene, the director have given the audience one manifestation that the film they are watching is a fantasy film and there are other numerous scenes that would justify the film as a fantasy one. The film also depicts a romance type of film. Jenna and Matt, being best friends since their childhood and who became lovers when they grew up and with the other scenes proved and showed to the audience there is a savor of love in the film. These two genres, romance and fantasy has been justified throughout the film. However, there were just very few scenes that would make you giggle. There is nothing much comic element inculcated in some scenes or humorous scenes showed.  Nevertheless, the movie was great and the director did not fail to leave a lesson to the audience although it is a fantasy-comedy film that we do not need to rush things. We just need to enjoy what we have and to where we are in our lives at the present because we will not esteem the things that are going to happen if we would be the one who will manipulate the scenes in our lives by ourselves alone. Just let God.

Most of the scenes in the film were predictable. There is no room for thinking to what would happen next. Nonetheless, with Jennifer Garner and Mark Ruffalo’s acting, they lifted up the film. The charm and the chemistry are in between them that really made this romantic film great. The music directors also did a great job with the music score of the film.

The editing of the shots was also great. When Jenna was still a 13-year-old preteen and when the magic wishing dust sprinkled on her and she became a 30-year-old woman, the editing of the shots was superb. Despite the fact that the film is a fantasy one, because of the editing of the shots, the story looks like it was a real one. The screenplay was also good. There were numerous catchy love quotes in the film said by the actors that would really be stocked in the minds of the people who will watch the movie. One example is the line said by Matt to Jenna, “Love is a battlefield.” It was well crafted by the film’s screenwriters, Josh Goldsmith and Cathy Yuspa.

13 Going on 30, this 2004 American film fall under Apparatus Theory. It is defined under Apparatus Theory that it maintains that cinema is by nature ideological. When people are watching a particular film, they do not know nor observe that there is already something that is being programmed in our minds. It seems like the cinema programs our minds. Like what is in the film, as we watch 13 Going on 30, our minds are being influenced that in nature we always do something to be able to be in the line, to be in the flow, to be in the spotlight, as what Jenna did. Nonetheless, the film did not fail to show to its audience the moral lesson of it.

(c) Judd V. Bantug