‘13 Going On 30’ is a cutesy film

VAN NOVACK

“13 Going On 30” is not the kind of movie that will send me running

for a Thesaurus because I’m about to run out of descriptive

phraseology. I believe I could fashion an effective review of this

film using only two adjectives: “cute” and “nice.”

As the title suggests, the film opens in 1987 on the 13th birthday

of Jenna Rink (Christa B. Allen). Jenna desperately wants to be

popular to the exclusion of all else, including the obvious puppy

love of her chubby neighbor Matt. Personifying 1980s, junior high

school cool is the “six chicks” led by acidly conceited and

precocious Lucy (inexplicably nicknamed Tom Tom). Without going into

gruesome detail, Jenna encounters some magic wish dust and wakes up

17 years later as the impossibly stylish editor of her favorite New

York fashion magazine, “Poise.”

Jenna, now played by Jennifer Garner, is basically a little girl

in a woman’s body and has no memory of the intervening 17 years.

Waking up in her antiseptically avant-garde Manhattan apartment with

her moronic professional hockey-player boyfriend, Jenna eventually

comprehends what has occurred. Looking for a familiar face, she

tracks down her old friend Matt, now a moderately successful

professional photographer.

As it turns out, Jenna and Matt have not been friends since that

fateful 13th birthday party. Jenna turned her back on Matt, family

and old friends shortly after for reasons explained in the movie.

Jenna got her wish to be popular, even becoming one of the “six

chicks” after which she seemingly led a life of hedonistic

superficiality. The infamous Tom Tom is now one of her fellow editors

at Poise magazine and is a friend of sorts.

As with all “child in an adult body” movies (“Big,” “Vice Versa,”

“Freaky Friday,” etc.), “13 Going On 30” contains several awkward

moments when the “child” is put in “adult” situations. Conversely, it

also features formulaic scenes where the exuberant child reminds the

adult how to have fun or returns them to the simplicity of childhood.

Mark Ruffalo plays the mature Matt as just a decent guy

understandably confused by the life-disrupting reappearance of his

childhood crush. New York offers a picturesque backdrop for the story

and the fashion magazine angle allows Garner to parade about in one

ultra-chic outfit after another.

Surprisingly, this familiar stew actually cooks up pretty well

thanks in no small part to Jennifer Garner’s unaffected and charming

portrayal of Jenna. Garner is beautiful, but not in an off-putting

way. To put it simply, Garner’s Jenna is just plain likable and you

find yourself cheering her on as she attempts to sort out the mess

her selfishness has wrought.

“13 Going On 30” may be the cinematic version of light cuisine.

Nonetheless, if you want 97 minutes of “cute” and “nice”

entertainment, this movie is just the ticket.

* VAN NOVACK, 50, is the director of institutional research at Cal

State Long Beach and lives in Huntington Beach with his wife

Elizabeth.

‘Fire’ is cliff-hanging excitement and fun

Cliffhangers put heroes on the teetering edge of life and death.

The danger in such situations is self-evident. It’s Sylvester

Stallone hanging on by his fingertips to a rope strung over a rocky

ravine or Indiana Jones running to save himself from being crushed by

a rolling boulder. “Man on Fire” is a cliffhanger, too, but with a

difference.

Creasy, played by Denzel Washington, is at the end of his rope and

clinging to life. It’s unclear what Creasy has done before, but his

belief that even God could not forgive his past actions along with

his excessive drinking and other suicidal tendencies, lets the

audience know that he is no longer the man he once was. Creasy

believes he has good reason to self destruct. He’s given up looking

for a reason to live.

The reason to live, however, finds him in the form of Pita, a

little girl Creasy is hired to protect from kidnappers. Their

evolving relationship comes to have a life-reaffirming effect on him.

But it’s short-lived. An unspeakable turn of events steers Creasy

back into his own private descent in to hell. This time, however, he

doesn’t choose the bottle for solace or put a gun to his temple. This

time Creasy goes for revenge.

Washington has carved out a niche playing flawed and damaged

heroes such as Alonzo in “Training Day.” His characters are

believable, which makes them come alive. Initially you don’t know

what to make of Creasy . Is he the good guy or the bad guy? It’s hard

to tell if he’s a wounded hero who will heal or a fallen hero at the

end of his days. The uncertainty keeps the audience guessing about

Creasy until the film’s climax, with plenty of surprising story

developments in between.

Director Tony Scott (“Top Gun,” “Spy Game”) and Washington have

worked together on another character-driven film, “Crimson Tide.”

Tony Scott’s definition of “action” in a movie is pure extravagance.

For example, gun battles take place in the middle of the city in

broad daylight and last for minutes without the cops ever arriving on

the scene. It happens only in the movies right? The director uses the

overly dramatic action, however, as a way to illustrate what’s going

on in Creasy’s mind. The strategy works.

Another element that works in “Man On Fire” is Creasy’s best

friend, Ray Burn, played by Christopher Walken. They share the same

past, but, Ray copes and lives with his inability to atone for his

past sins in a way that sets him apart from Creasy. . The audience

has a sense that the friends have survived many battles before, but

the last battle is proving nearly impossible to recover from.

Saving the best for last, Dakota Fanning as Pita ranks with

Natalie Wood and Jodie Foster as a child actor. It’s easy to forget

it’s only a movie because her acting is so good. It’s like watching a

home movie of someone comfortable in front of the camera. Fanning

makes Pita so real and so charismatic that it’s understandable why

Creasy reacts the way he does.

“Man On Fire” shows heroes at some of their weakest and worst

moments as well as their strongest and best moments. For Creasy it

comes down to a sum of all his actions, down to his last one in the

movie. It’s a cliffhanger worth the price of admission.

* PEGGY J. ROGERS, 40, produces commercial videos and

documentaries.