13 Going on 30

MPAA Rating: PG-13

Entertainment: +2

Content: -1 1/2

In this romantic comedy/drama, Jenna (Shana Dowdeswell) is a wholesome girl on the verge of becoming a teenager in 1987. She invites a group of the popular kids from school to her 13th birthday party. Her next-door neighbor and best friend, Matt (Jack Salvatore Jr.), embarrasses her when he tries to make her birthday special with a gift from his heart that includes a packet of fairy dust to make all of her dreams come true. Jenna is mystically transported 17 years into the future and finds herself in a 30-year-old's body. She receives all of the things that she thought were important: beauty, success and popularity. Adult Jenna (Jennifer Garner) soon discovers, 'I don't have any [real] friends, I don't talk to my parents, and I'm not a nice person.' She finds her old childhood friend, Matt (Mark Ruffalo), and hopes that he can help her set things back the way they were when life was simple and less superficial.

13 Going on 30 has a sweet innocence, but it also has a breadth of unacceptable content, which may especially alarm parents since the movie is highly appealing to young girls. Jenna's boyfriend runs around her house in nothing but a towel and then pulls it off to give her a little show, but she quickly opens an umbrella to cover his nakedness. He later performs a striptease, which she finds inappropriate. Jenna rejects a man's sexual advancement in her office and kicks him in the groin. She also goes to work the first day in her lingerie, not knowing where her clothes are. She often grabs her adult breasts in disbelief that this new body is really hers. Each adult situation is distasteful to Jenna and her 13-year-old mind. The film also contains sexually related dialog, crude language and profanity. The redeeming value of this film is that Jenna does the right thing and presents a clear message that being who you are is better than being what others want you to be.

Preview Reviewer: Brian Hughes
Distributor:
Columbia Pictures

Summary
The following categories contain objective listings of film content which contribute to the subjective numeric Content ratings posted to the left and on the Home page.

Crude Language: Many (10) times ? moderate (butt 3, boobs 2); strong (ass 1, bitch 4)

Obscene Language: Several (8) times ? moderate (testicles 1, balls 4, orgasm 1, jump your bones 1); strong (BS 1)

Profanity: Several (8) times ? moderate (OG 3, OMG 2, MG 1, G 1); other (Jeez 1)

Violence: Few times ? mild (some scuffling between teenage girls, verbal altercations); moderate (woman kicks man in the groin)

Sex: Few times ? mild (woman grabs her own breasts a few times in surprise that she is in an adult body, implied activity between man and woman but not actually shown)

Nudity: Few times ? mild (man wearing only a towel, man removes his towel but nothing is exposed); moderate (man gives woman a striptease down to his brief underwear); strong (man?s genitals were clearly visible through his brief underwear)

Sexual Dialogue/Gesture: Many times ? mild (man insinuates sexual interest in connection with playing a battleship game); moderate (man?s genitals were referenced during a striptease); strong (figurative discussion about a man?s testicles being twisted/crushed, a 13-year-old girl talks about wanting to ?jump a guy?s bones?)

Drugs: Few times ? mild (adults drinking wine at a social function)

Other: None

Running Time: 97 minutes
Intended Audience: Teens (girls in particular) and adults


Click HERE for a PRINTER-FRIENDLY version of this review.