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Trapped in the wrong fantasy

Suddenly 30, successful and free of teenage angst, Jennifer Garner's character in 13 Going on 30 would be living a dream - if only it were her dream.

The most interesting thing about 13 Going on 30 is that it's a young male's fantasy being sold as a young female's fantasy. The core of the story isn't an awkward girl who magically grows into Jennifer Garner, but her pudgy classmate whose affections were shoved away during a game of Seven Minutes in Heaven.

Garner gets a chance to show what kind of effervescent movie star she's destined to become. Yet she isn't the reason the story exists, no matter what the ads suggest. Mark Ruffalo plays the grownup version of that crushed admirer who eventually gets what he wants, even if that means the script trashes the girl's idea of a perfect life.

Director Gary Winick's movie begins in 1987 with 13-year-old Jenna Rink (Christa B. Allen) doing the Molly Ringwald thing, barely coping with well-meaning parents and snobby students spoiling her birthday party. Only meek Matt Flamhaff (Jack Salvatore Jr.) stays by her side; he even customizes a dollhouse based on her crush on Rick Springfield. Then Jenna hurts his feelings, just before some sprinkled "wishing powder" takes effect.

Jenna wakes up 17 years later, now played by Garner with comical disbelief at what she sees in the mirror. Jenna has grown up to become an editor for Poise magazine, which she had idolized as a teenager. Her boyfriend is a hunky hockey player, and limos take her everywhere. Amazement turns into fear, and with her parents conveniently on a remote vacation, she seeks out Matt (Ruffalo) to make things right.

The script immediately changes perspective. We won't detail the plot, but it follows the basic outline that a daydreaming seventh-grade boy might concoct about a girl beyond his reach: Wouldn't it be great if she needed me and thought I was cute and realized all those people turning her against me were jerks and we could get married and live the way I wanted to? Wouldn't it?

Maybe so, but consider this:

Wouldn't it be great if Garner shared more scenes with girls who share her character's mental age, like the funny sleepover where Jenna quotes Pat Benetar's love wisdom? Wouldn't it be nice if Jenna's romantic relationship with any adult man in this movie didn't have that underlying "ick" factor? And wouldn't it be cool if a female version of Big didn't settle for comedy so small?

Instead, 13 Going on 30 is a time-waster coming soon to DVD shelves near you, with Garner doing the Pretty Woman turn that every ingenue is obliged to do. She's suitably cheery and all that, but any film building an alleged showstopper by imitating Michael Jackson's dance moves is certainly no thriller.

Grade: C

Director: Gary Winick

Cast: Jennifer Garner, Mark Ruffalo, Judy Greer, Andy Serkis, Kathy Baker, Phil Reeves

Screenplay: Cathy Yuspa, Josh Goldsmith, Niels Mueller

Rating: PG-13; sexual situations, brief drug references

Running time: 97 min.