13 Going on 30
User Score
6.3 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 72 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 48 out of 72
  2. Mixed: 14 out of 72
  3. Negative: 10 out of 72

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  1. JasonZ.
    Aug 10, 2004
    6
    This is not a bad movie. Jennifer Garner is electric as a 30 something playing a 13 year old. Sure, she had Hanks' performance to review in preparation for this film, but she proves that she can, in fact, act a little bit. This is not a genre that I enjoy (a fantasy romance), but I found myself willingly along for the ride. This is a great rental for a peaceful friday night at home.
  2. JacquelineH.
    Nov 7, 2004
    10
    I love this movie, it shows you the true values of growing up, not to take things for granted and to just live life and have fun while your younge, so you can grow up into a wonderful person like jenna did after she realized who she really became.
  3. HenryS.
    May 3, 2004
    6
    The action sequence was amazing... go LAKERS.
  4. AndyW.
    Feb 21, 2005
    2
    Could be the dictionary definition of "going through the motions". Includes all the ingredients that made Big such a great film, but lacks any magic or chemistry to hold them all together. And the ending is excruciating.
  5. IdelkaR.
    Sep 10, 2006
    10
    Jen Garner is a great actress. Her performance in movie was really enchanting.
  6. IlzeS.
    Dec 26, 2004
    10
    Excellent movie, but not as good as other movies like this. Jennifer Garner is best star of this movie and this movie is really funny.
  7. CameronS.
    Apr 22, 2004
    8
    This movie was great. It was funny, and charming. Jennifer Garner is great in this movie and Andy Serkis steals the show in his scenes. The movie is like Big in its own way but with a twist. I can't really tell you what I mean but you just are going to have to see the movie. This movie is great for family, I didn't see many sex references at all except for one scene that is kind of objectionable but it's brief. This is a great date movie.… Expand
  8. TonyB.
    Apr 24, 2004
    9
    This movie was fun and Jennifer was great. Can't think of any way it could have been done better. Got a few really good laughs (and not at anyone's expense), had its touching moments, and everything went exactly as it would have if I had written it. My only complaint is that I would have liked it to go a little longer - perhaps play out a few scenes a little more.
  9. KenG.
    May 3, 2004
    6
    A rather bland, juvenile re-telling of the superior Tom Hanks flick Big, this movie is saved by Jennifer Garner's sparkling and honest performance.
  10. DanielleB
    Jul 28, 2004
    7
    "Big" its not, but Garner was at her best in this film.
  11. JulieW.
    Aug 12, 2004
    10
    Great acting! i love it!
  12. JudyT.
    Aug 3, 2004
    6
    Silly, but cute.
  13. Zybard
    Aug 6, 2004
    5
    What mom lets her 13 year old daughter have a sleep over with the promiscuous 30 year old neighbor?
  14. clares.
    Mar 8, 2005
    7
    I liked it, but I wish the guy had been wearing boxers and not y-fronts when doing the striptease. That was gross-guys, burn them.
  15. matta.
    Sep 2, 2005
    2
    I like Tom Hanks better. Stick to Alias girlfriend.
  16. MeganO.
    Apr 26, 2004
    9
    How refreshing to see a "thirteen year old" (Garner's character) be modest and sweet v. the modern portrayal of teens as sex-crazed and defiant!! Great movie!
  17. BobH.
    Apr 27, 2004
    5
    Jennifer Garner was simply outstanding portraying a thirteen year old girl. On the hand, her main squeeze Mark Ruffalo was as bland and as lame as the script she had to work with. There was no chemistry or sparks from the pairing although the movie cried out to have it happen. A modern version of the delightful comedy BIG with Tom Hanks it was not. It didn't even come close to Jamie Lee Curtis in Freaky Friday. The best way to describe this film is eating DRY TOAST.… Expand
  18. ChadS.
    Jul 19, 2004
    9
    "13 Going on 30" tells a story with popular song. Talking Heads' "Burning Down the House" represents Sean's utter uncoolness to the popular kids at Jenna's thirteenth birthday party. As adults, the use of "I Wanna Dance with Somebody" by Whitney Houston becomes significant because David Byrne has been known to cover the song at his concerts. The song accompanies the scene in which Jenna gets dressed for the company party, but it works as foreshadowing to Matt's admission at his wedding that he had always loved her. If you're aware of this musical connection, "13 Going on 30" becomes a richer experience, because Whitney Houston and the Talking Heads are polar opposites, like Matt and Jenna were in high school. The tribute to Michael Jackson is fun, but it's Jennifer Garner's recitation of "Love is a Battlefield" by the great spandexed bard Pat Benatar, and taking "life of the slumber party" honors as she incites the girls to sing and dance to that hideous video, which floored me. Christa B. Allen does a fine job of setting the stage for Jennifer Garner, who is absolutely winning as a reformed bitch, the bitch we never see, but intimate in the quivering eyes and lips of her secretary (Marcia DeBonis). Through Arlene, Jenna's backstory comes alive. "13 Going on 30" has lapses in logic, but so did "Donnie Darko". My biggest quibble: I'd like to know what the second version of the adult Jenna does for a living. … Expand
  19. ElenaJ.
    Aug 7, 2004
    5
    Seems to be a popular rent for grown men at the store where i work.
  20. Gerry
    Nov 26, 2005
    8
    Cool movie, Garner is more than just a (very) pretty face, she has unreal charisma and charm. The movie never drags, and who can't relate to the adolescent angst that she and her would-be boyfriend experience, as well as the feelings we all have as we get older that cause us to wonder if we had just done "this, or that" a bit different when we were younger, things might have turned out better? In a sense, the movie is really like a combination of "Best Friend's Weddiing", and the theme about the Ghost of Christamas Future from Dickens. Unlike Julia, she gets a second chance, which is cool, because someone as awesome as Garner will ALWAYS get a second chance...I mean, she deserves it, she knows it, and we know it! Totally charming movie, and I think very well cast as well, it is a disservice to simply call it a "chick flick" (OK, it is, but there's more to it than that) or something similarly demeaning. This movie has real class, and Jennifer Garner, in my book, is the coolest of the new young actresses.… Expand
  21. MikeB
    Jan 8, 2005
    10
    Possibly the best made, most honest and cute romantic comedy ever. Jennifer Garner puts Julia Roberts to shame in an unforgetable role - definately buy this one.
  22. AusinA.
    May 8, 2005
    9
    Both cute and spunky.
  23. BarryR.
    May 21, 2004
    8
    "13 Going on 30" starring Jennifer Garner ("Alien") and Mark Ruffalo. Done with less taste, bad writing and poor direction, could have been a real bomb. However, to the contrary, the outstanding acting performance of Ms. Garner, the excellent writing, editing and directing, make this movie not only heart-warming, full of good fun and real values, but an absolute delight to view. The other star of the movie is the City of New York which, to those of you who have watched Sex in the City, will know how wonderful and appealing the city can appear when shown in its most favorable light (in addition to the neon). The movie will not win any major awards except, of course, for those who are interested in seeing a fun, light and really charming film that leaves you feeling better for having seen it. It earns and deserves an 8 for the kids in all of us. … Expand
  24. MarkB.
    May 24, 2004
    7
    Although this isn't in the same universe as Tom Hanks' classic Big in the adult/adolescent switcheroo sweepstakes, and as an examination of teen cruelty is several football fields removed from Mean Girls, this works extremely well a lot of the time for five big reasons: Jennifer Garner, Jennifer Garner, Jennifer Garner, Jennifer Garner...and Mark Ruffalo. The latter skillfully incorporates not-quite vanished childhood insecurities and hurts in his portrait of a successful photographer who has otherwise overcome them; his lovely co-star is a real revelation, portraying a 13-year-old child-woman (literally) with complete guilelessness and irresistible lovability. (The box office returns indicate that Garner has been very successful at drawing both devotees and nonwatchers of her hit spy-action TV series Alias; if you think it's easy for a TV star to fill theaters with folks who might otherwise assume they can get all they want of said performer for free, ask Ray Romano how easy a task this REALLY is.) Her jubliant nightclub dance number to Michael Jackson's "Thriller" equals five minutes of pure joy that not only edges out Uma and Darrah's trailer mano-a-mano in Kill Bill Vol 2 as 2004's best movie scene (so far), but even more impressively, it completely banishes all reservations about the song and its artist that the news has forced on us. The script has some real flaws; it's mindlessly stereotypical about women in business, and takes some interesting dark turns near the end that it's all too eager (and sloppy) about eradicating, but when Garner is on screen, she really does make you believe that the answer to all the world's problems is to put a tween at the head of every business, corporation, and government office!… Expand
  25. SeanP
    Jan 25, 2005
    6
    It was entertaining, I'll give it that. Otherwise just another version of the old Tom Hanks movie, "Big".
  26. KevinE.
    Mar 15, 2005
    0
    Rented it because the reviewers all gushed over Garner, and this her official superstar coming out film. What a load of crap. A stale hollywood formula from the get go, and Garner wanders around in a cartoonish state of exasperated wonder so HUGE that I longed for a CGI version of this movie so that it could be more realistic. I couldn't watch much, so I have no idea how the completely implausible story line was dealt with, if it ever was, but who cares because this kind of junk is a complete waste of time, as was the money, effort, electricity, gas, clothing, food, alarm-clock-setting, phone calls, faxing, driving, yapping, power lunches, screenings, etc that went into the making of it. C'mon people!… Expand
  27. x0MandyLynn0x
    Oct 7, 2010
    10
    I actually really thought this movie was cute! I've watched it a few times already..and I'll watch it again someday! I liked it! Jennifer Garner also played her role great! I love how she acted as a 13 year old in it, it's a good family movie. That will also give you a few laughs!
  28. agleek
    Mar 27, 2012
    10
    This was one of the first comedies that made me realize comedies were becoming something more than just laugh machines. I think a skewed sense of time is irrelevant when you are in the genre of fantasy, which this is. The morals that it presents but does not shove down your throat are impeccable and everyone would live happier lives if they listened to the message in this movie. It is never too late to be a better person and choose quality over quantity.… Expand

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
57 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 35 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 20 out of 35
  2. Mixed: 15 out of 35
  3. Negative: 0 out of 35
  1. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Kirk Honeycutt
    70
    Does a good job of reviving stale material. Thanks to a snappy script by Josh Goldsmith and Cathy Yuspa and an effervescent performance by Jennifer Garner, this romantic comedy has a buoyant personality.
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  2. Variety
    Reviewed by: Joe Leydon
    70
    A star vehicle composed of second-hand parts that nevertheless gets great mileage (and big laughs) from its recycled plot.
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  3. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Keith Phipps
    50
    Cheers and many happy returns to Garner as she makes her first starring film role. She's the real deal. But jeers to every other aspect of 13 Going On 30.
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