'13 Going on 30' (2004)

PG-13 | April 23, 2004 | 98 mins

For some, 13 feels like it was just yesterday. For Jenna, it was.

A girl who’s sick of the social structures of junior high is transformed into a grownup overnight. In this feel-good fairy tale, teenager Jenna wants a boyfriend, and when she’s unable to find one, she fantasizes about being a well-adjusted adult. Suddenly, her secret desire becomes a reality, and she is transformed into a 30-year-old, but adulthood, with its own set of male-female challenges, isn’t as easy as it looks.

Cast: Jennifer Garner, Mark Ruffalo [+]
Director: Gary Winick
Writers: Cathy Yuspa, Josh Goldsmith
Producers: Susan Arnold, Donna Arkoff Roth, Gina Matthews
Cinematographer: Don Burgess
Editors: Susan Littenberg
Music: Theodore Shapiro
Production Company: Revolution Studios, Thirteen Productions

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Name

Character

Jenna

Matt

Lucy

Richard

Bev

Wayne

Young Jenna

Young Matt

Trish

Arlene

Wendy

Release Date

April 23, 2004

Runtime

98 minutes

Distribution

Columbia Pictures, Sony Pictures Releasing

MPAA Rating

PG-13

Language

English

Country

United States

Filming Dates

May 3, 2003 – August 31, 2003

Filming Locations

Location

Address

Film Relevance

Marshall Fundamental Secondary School

990 Allen Avenue, Pasadena, California

Tamarack Middle School.

Private Residence

1837 Spruce Street, South Pasadena, California

Jenna’s childhood home.

Private Residence

1839 Spruce Street, South Pasadena, California

Matty’s childhood home.

Apartment Complex

51 5th Avenue at East 12th Street, New York, New York

Jenna’s NY apartment.

Commercial Building

444 Madison Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets

Poise Magazine building.

Spring Street Towers

650 S. Spring Street, Downtown, Los Angeles, California

Poise magazine party (Thriller sequence).

Henri Bendel (Closed)

712 5th Avenue, Manhattan, New York

Jenna’s shopping spree.

Exterior

71 Greene Street, New York, New York

Jenna attends a cocktail party.

New York Public Library

455 West 5th Avenue, New York City, New York

‘Class of 2004’ photoshoot.

Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park

26 New Dock Street, Brooklyn, New York

Jenna and Matt’s late night stroll and swingset scene.

Private Residence

1965 Fletcher Avenue, South Pasadena, California

Jenna and Matt’s home.

Sheep Meadow

65th Street Transverse, New York, New York

Site of Poise magazine photoshoot.

Friends to Lovers

Fantasy/Magical Elements

Young Jenna: I wanna be thirty. Thirty and flirty and thriving.

Becky: Why are you talking to me?
Jenna: Why not? We are neighbors, right?
Becky: But you usually ignore me.
Jenna: I like your shoes.
Becky: Thanks. I like your dress.
Jenna: That’s because I have these incredible boobs to fill it out!

Beverly: Just because you don’t look like those girls in Poise magazine doesn’t mean you’re not beautiful in your own way.
Young Jenna: I don’t want to be beautiful in my own way. I want to look like these people.
Beverly: Oh, those aren’t people, honey. Those are models.
Young Jenna: Look at this. “Thirty and flirty and thriving. Why the thirties are the best years of your life.” I wanna be thirty.
Beverly: [chuckles] Well, you will be, honey. But right now, you’re my beautiful 13-year-old.

Jenna: I love you, Matt. You’re my best friend.
Matt: Jenna… I’ve always loved you.

Jenna: I don’t know what Lucy said to you about me. But I want you to know that whoever she was talking about wasn’t me.
Matt: It doesn’t matter what Lucy said. I stopped trusting her after she stole my Pop Rocks in the third grade.

Jenna: You want to know a secret?
Matt: Yeah.
Jenna: You’re the sweetest guy I’ve ever known.

Jenna: What happened?
Matt: I don’t know. I can pretty much peg it to your 13th birthday party, when you were in the closet playing that game. Spin the Rapist?
Jenna: [suddenly remembers] Seven Minutes in Heaven. Everybody ditched. And that is the last thing I remembered.

Matt: I have realized these past few days that… you can’t just turn back time.
Jenna: Why not?
Matt: I moved on. You moved on. We’ve gone down different paths for so long. We made choices. I chose Wendy. We care about each other, you know.

Young Matt: You know, I can’t believe you invited those clones.
Young Jenna: They’re my friends.
Young Matt: The Six Chicks are not your friends, okay?
Young Jenna: Well, almost. And someday, I’m gonna BE a Sixth Chick.
Young Matt: There are six of them, Jenna, that’s the whole point. There can’t be a seventh Sixth Chick. It’s just mathematically impossible. Besides you’re way cooler than they are, they’re totally unoriginal.
Young Jenna: I don’t want to be original, Matty, I want to be cool.

Jenna: Matt, stop being so nice to me. I don’t deserve it. Do you know what kind of person I am now, I mean – do you know who I am right now? I don’t have any real friends. I did something bad with a married guy. I don’t talk to my mom and dad. I’m not a nice person. And the thing is – I’m not 13 anymore.

Christa B. Allen, who played young Jenna Rink, also portrayed a younger Jennifer Garner in 2009’s Ghosts of Christmas Past.
Mark Ruffalo was so terrified of filming the ‘Thriller’ sequence that he considered quitting the movie. But Jennifer Garner’s infectious enthusiasm got him on board.
When 13-year-old Jenna Rink goes into the closet for “seven minutes of heaven”, you can see actual photos of Jennifer Garner as a child on the back of the door.
As Jenna softens, the production team adjusted her wardrobe accordingly, for example, wearing warmer colors. Lucy’s wardrobe changes to reflect her growing ruthlessness.
The slumber party scene was forced upon director Gary Winick at the producers’ insistence, over his strenuous objections. He felt it cut away from the Jenna and Matt romance, which was the real crux of the film. But watching it on the Blu-ray director’s commentary, he then felt this was one of the best scenes in the film.
Jenna’s birthday is May 26, 1974. She turns 30 years old 13 minutes into the movie.
Australia changed the film’s title to ‘Suddenly 30’ to avoid confusion over the original title.
Adult Jenna Rink first seeing herself in the mirror was a deliberate homage to Big (1988), when Tom Hanks first saw himself as a grown-up.
Referenced in the 2018 music video for Ariana Grande’s chart-topping single “Thank U, Next“, which featured callbacks to Grande’s most influential 2000s popular culture moments to illustrate the true-to-life narrative of the song. In response, Mark Ruffalo, who played Matty in the film, tweeted: “Having some Razzles (it’s a candy AND a gum) in your honor, @ArianaGrande! #thankunext”.
According to the Blu-ray director’s commentary, Gary Winick revealed that his favourite scene from the film was the confrontation between Jenna and Matt on the day of Matt’s wedding to Wendy.