Did you ever wish that you could flash-forward in your life to a specific moment, or to a specific time, because you couldn’t wait to get there, or just didn’t have the patience for time to pass by? Well that is the case with Jenna Rink who is convinced that once she turns 30, that her life will be right where she wants it to be. She is going through a rough child-hood, where she just can’t seem to fit in, and seems to have bad things happen to her all the time. During a birthday party that she is hosting, she is tricked by some mean girls into believing that they are her friends, when all they really wanted was to sneak out a cute guy.
For her birthday, Jenna received some wishing dust that she has sprinkled on to model dollhouse that her friend as made for her. While hiding in the closet after a game that the mean girls at her party have told her to wait in, the dust falls upon her head while she is wishing that she was 30 years old. She falls asleep, and awakes to find herself in an apartment with a strange man taking a shower there. Her life has not skipped the 17 years, but rather she has lived them, and been able to fast-forward in her mind to the point that she is 30. She is unable to remember anything that transpired in the missing time, and that is what ends up leading to the best moments of the movie.
The prospect of losing 17 years of your life to jump into your future self, is not one that I have seen done in the movies before. The premise of this movie does resemble Big, which starred Tom Hanks, in the fashion that we have a child who wishes that they could be an adult, because they think that life will be easier once that grow-up. Tom Hanks pulled off his role very well, because of the innocence that he was able to portray, and the role turned out to be very believable. The same can be said in this movie, where Jennifer Garner takes on the main role of Jenna. Garner is able to bring a "cuteness" to the movie that is hard to come by with actors/actresses who are not children. This is a role that makes her shine, and show that she has more range than just being a spy or comic book character.
This is the first film that Garner has had the main role, or been asked to carry a film, and she does it very well. The only film that I had seen her in before this, was Pearl Harbor. In that film, she plays one of the nurses, who are forced to deal with the aftermath of the bombings. While she was good in the role, it was a small part, and I did not think she did too bad in it. So, going into watch this movie, the only knowledge I had of her acting was off of television. She did recently co-star in the movie Daredevil, with Ben Affleck, but this is the first time that a movie was truly called "hers". She does not disappoint, and anyone who is a fan of hers would enjoy this one very much. For all of the men who are fans, she runs around the first part of the movie, after she turns 30, in a nightgown.
Once she turns 30, Jenna is forced to adjust to what her life has turned into, and from the outside-looking-in, she has become very successful. She has a great job, she has a great apartment, and she has a boyfriend who plays for the New York Rangers. All of it seems like a great life to be living, but the 13-year-old who is thrust into it, in the body of a 30-year-old, is not happy with what she is encountering. The movie proceeds to show us that no matter what we may wish for when we are younger, that dreaming of it, and actually living it are two different things. The moral ends up being that we should be happy with what we have, and that we can strive to do great things, but at the same time we should make sure to keep our feet on the ground.
The biggest problem with her wish is that she has become powerful and popular, and has left her old life behind. She is detached from here family, and no longer talks with any of the friends that she had had back when she was 13. It turns out, that when she became popular, and started down the road where she would end up, she turned her shoulder to the people that had been the most important to her. The person who had been the meanest to her, and whom she had been very mad at it, turns out to be her best-friend when she is 30. Her best friend from 13, ends up not even being acquainted with her anymore because of the things she has done to get her to where she is now.
One of the things about the movie that I have not yet mentioned is the music that they use. If you are a fan at all, of the music that graced us in the 1980's, then you are REALLY going to love this movie. There are dance sequences, and parties that take place where the dialogue almost becomes secondary to some of the songs that they use to either convey emotions that are taking place or to seg-way between 2 scenes. Also, there is one scene involving "Thriller" that makes a great experience within the movie.
This is one of those movies that can be seen by people of all ages. It does not box itself in to a corner where it will only appeal to a certain group of people. Instead, it has things that appeal to both children and adults. It is this type of movie that the industry needs to make more of, so that the family experience of going out to the movies can be sustained. Garner shines in her role, and he co-stars, though not really famous themselves, make for a great supporting cast. I highly recommend giving this movie a try, and letting the kid in you out for a day at the movies.
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