13 Going On 30 (DVD)

Taking her shot at a romantic comedy, with the feel of a grown-up Lindsay Lohan flick, Jennifer Garner proves she has the power to pull off a movie of her own. 13 Going On 30 gives you the impression that you are about to be in store for an updated version of Tom Hanks' Big, but instead, it has a life of its own that tailors itself to a wide audience.

When the movie starts we meet Jenna Rink (Garner) at the age of 13, struggling through adolescence while trying to be one of the cool kids. Little does Jenna know, a cruel prank played on her during her 13th birthday party, Jenna wishes she was "thirty and flirty and thriving" unaware that the wish was soon to come true.

BAM! 17 years later and she is one of the cool kids, working at her favorite fashion magazine, Poise, and hanging with the in-crowd. Unfortunately, she soon realizes that the 30-year-old Jenna Rink is not exactly the sweet little girl she used to be. She has abandoned her childhood best friend, Matt (Ruffalo), and has been avoiding her family, all things uncharacteristic of the girl she once was. In an attempt to put the pieces of her life together she reunites herself with Matt and is suddenly forced to grow up 17 years too fast.

Aside from the childhood beginning and the weak way in which Jenna suddenly turns 30 this is a good movie, you just need to force yourself to believe what has happened and roll with it. There are plenty of good moments and a great 80s soundtrack to carry you through.

On the flip side of that, I wasn't as impressed with the special features of this DVD.

First off, you have two commentaries, one with director Gary Winick and the other with the producers of the film. Of the two the Winick commentary is probably the most intriguing as he really beats on himself for mistakes he felt he made throughout the film, but I really think a commentary with Ruffalo and Garner would have been the best choice here, since Jennifer is so animated in interviews and really seemed to enjoyed making the movie based on what you will see in the "making-of" feature.

Then there are 18, yes 18, deleted and extended scenes, mostly extended, that really get extremely tiresome as several of them overstay their welcome. For example the first one is almost five minutes long, and most of it you have already seen.

If you are really bored you can check out a couple of 80s videos of Pat Benatar's "Love is a Battlefield" and Rick Springfield's "Jessie's Girl", plus there are two painful little games to play that bothered me so much I am not even going to go into any detail, just know that if you finish them you will get to watch a couple of uninteresting little featurettes.

After all that though there is one feature that is very good that a lot of people will enjoy titled "I Was a Teenage Geek." This feature explores the early goings of Mark Ruffalo, Jennifer Garner, Judy Greer and Samuel Ball as they show you some high school and earlier photos. The one thing that was really astonishing was how much Garner actually looked like Christa B. Allen, who played young Jenna Rink.

Overall if this is the DVD for you, you are going to be buying it only for the movie as the features are nothing to write home about.