Gary Winick
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Too bad the filmmakers didn't put any more than the most cursory attempt into building any kind of plot around her. Writers Cathy Yuspa and Josh Goldsmith (What Women Want) came up with the "story" and another writer, Niels Mueller (Tadpole), "fleshed" it out, but it's really just a half-hearted, half-baked retread of Big (1988), with one twist.
It won't help matters that the concept has been done before and better by "Big".
As their relationship grows, "13 Going on 30" is more of a romance than its obvious model, "Big."
Jennifer Garner is indeed a charmer, but she's the victim of a charmless treatment in "13 Going on 30," another one of those body switch movies (think "Big," " Vice Versa ," "Freaky Friday," etc.) in which a child magically occupies an adult body.
Jennifer Garner breaks character by forgetting that she’s playing an awkward 13-year-old girl in a 30-year-old woman’s body in this girly comedy based on the same plot conceits as “Big” (1988) and the more recent “Freaky Friday.”
I enjoy all movies regardless of genre if they're entertaining, and though this is a "pre-packaged-know-exactly-what-to-expect-next" type of flick that is derivative of several films, (mainly Big) it works.
Redgrave brings her trademark wit and gravitas to the proceedings, and her onscreen reunion with Nero, whom she met on the set of "Camelot" (1967), is the film's emotional highlight.
And when Redgrave, the aging still beautiful Juliet, meets up again with her one time Romeo and we see that it is her real life love Franco Nero (the two originally met while filming Camelot in 1967) – the passion between the two is palpable and practically leaps off the screen.
That one of the Lorenzos here happens to be Franco Nero, her real-life husband (and Lancelot to her Guinevere in the 1967 film version of Camelot), adds a layer of art-imitating-life frosting to the cake.
For devotees of the 1967 film version of Camelot, it is a glorious treat to see Guenevere reunited with her Lancelot once again, 43 years later – a love that might even impress Romeo and Juliet themselves.
Well, here's another romcom with one dimensional characters in the foreground triangle, but this one's raised up a notch by glorious Italian locations and the regal warmth of Vanessa Redgrave searching for a lost love in a subplot which mirrors the actress's own (Redgrave had a son with her "Camelot" costar Nero back in 1969, but married him years later, in 2006).
Late in the going we’re treated to a reunion of Redgrave with Franco Nero, the Lancelot to her Guenevere in 1967’s “Camelot,’’ and the ease with which these two portray mature passion is deeply touching.
I Feel Pretty (2018)
Directed by Abby Kohn
influenced by 13 Going on 30 (2004)
Characters Plot Themes
Schumer acts like she’s possessed by her childhood self, in command of the material but absent some of the searching thoughtfulness that Jennifer Garner brought to “13 Going on 30.”
That is, until she gets knocked on the head and wakes up convinced that she’s been magically transformed into a drop-dead gorgeous model type with rock-hard abs in some kind of high-concept fairy-tale scenario in the vein of Big (specifically referenced) or 13 Going On 30 .
The general theme of the film feels cribbed from movies like The Devil Wears Prada, 13 Going on 30, and Big.
In an original riff on such outlandish yet endearing body-swap classics as “13 Going on 30” and “Big,” Renee suddenly believes that she’s been upgraded to a flawless super-bod.
The Amy Schumer vehicle “I Feel Pretty” is the latest entry in a long line of ridiculous but often quite funny films such as “Big,” “Shallow Hal,” “Freaky Friday,” “13 Going on 30” and “The Changeup,” in which the main character is profoundly unsatisfied with the current state of things — and then experiences some kind of magic moment that changes everything.
Maybe she imagined it would be like 13 Going On 30.
It's more like a reversed "The Graduate" done by a less talented Wasp Woody Allen.
Too much has happened in the arena of sexual politics since " The Graduate ," and I kept thinking that since Oscar was 15 and his stepmother and her friend were about 40, this plot would have been unthinkable if the genders had been reversed.
The story, slyly reminiscent of predecessors including "The Graduate", makes its own mark not only because 15-year old Oscar isn't one, but through a style of effervescent charm, a lighthearted script crafted by screenwriters Niels Mueller and Heather McGowan and tightly directed (78 minutes!) by Gary Winnick for laughs stemming from human foibles -- a comedy of errors in modern terms.
Maybe that's because it has the pedigree of an instant classic such as "The Graduate" and the resounding reminiscence of Wes Anderson's 1998 charmer "Rushmore".
Zingers are plentiful, especially when it comes to the May-December relationship, with catty references to "The Graduate" and 40-15 tennis scores.
Scenarios like this one end up being the latest scandal about town, rather than being prime material for a comedy— The Graduate and Rushmore have explored this area.
Scott Kay's vocals may be a bit too reminiscent of Christine Cavanaugh's "Babe" work, but what worked once works again here.
George Miller's Babe drew deep inspiration from Charlotte's Web, with less showbiz pretense and infinitely better results.
Evidently modeled on the familiar 1973 animated film (which featured Debbie Reynolds and Henry Gibson as Charlotte and Wilbur), but sensibly dispensing with the eminently forgettable songs, this new live-action version carries the additional burden of following in the hoofprints of a modern classic in the genre, George Miller's "Babe."
The other is the 1995 film Babe, which pioneered live-action talking animal movies, and remains the standard by which they are judged.
Comparisons to Babe are expected and warranted, but one thing missing form this story is James Cromwell.
It may not have the perkiness of "Babe," that hoof-warming winner of 1995, but "Charlotte's Web" -- another movie featuring an animatronic pig -- plays to its biggest strength: the magic of a good story simply told.
Though this film doesn't have the bite of "Rushmore," the character that Aaron plays is most like Jason Schwartzman's.
"Tadpole" is nothing like "Rushmore," to which it is often inexplicably compared.
Heather McGowan and Niels Mueller's script, helmed by Gary Winick (who won Best Director at the festival), unavoidably summons shades of Harold and Maude and Spanking the Monkey, but Oscar most strongly suggests Rushmore's Max Fischer to the brownstone born.
Maybe that's because it has the pedigree of an instant classic such as "The Graduate" and the resounding reminiscence of Wes Anderson's 1998 charmer "Rushmore".
Scenarios like this one end up being the latest scandal about town, rather than being prime material for a comedy— The Graduate and Rushmore have explored this area.
His character is a few degrees this side of Max Fisher, the protagonist of “Rushmore,” and Stanford plays him with realistic teen-age confusion.
It is right up there with “Thriller” in 13 Going On 30.
…como al baile de «Thriller» de 13 Going On 30…
In addition to blatant spoofs of YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN, THRILLER, and even 13 GOING ON 30…
The hand-held camerawork is far too shaky for its own good, and pointlessly so, compared to, say, the deliberately unsteady look of Woody Allen's Husbands and Wives.
Europe’s rejuvenating effects on a staid American tourist have been depicted many times before and in far better films (Dodsworth, 1936; Before Sunrise, 1995; American Dreamer, 1984; Under the Tuscan Sun, 2003) but Letters to Juliet’s narrow focus and fumbled execution don’t warrant comparison with the best of them.
She is the most compelling reason to see Letters to Juliet, which reminded me, just the tiniest bit, of Sir Laurence Olivier's A Little Romance if only because both feature the talents of a legendary British actor and Italian settings that have you ready to book your seats on Alitalia this minute.
She is the most compelling reason to see Letters to Juliet, which reminded me, just the tiniest bit, of Sir Laurence Olivier's A Little Romance ?
Europe’s rejuvenating effects on a staid American tourist have been depicted many times before and in far better films (Dodsworth, 1936; Before Sunrise, 1995; American Dreamer, 1984; Under the Tuscan Sun, 2003) but Letters to Juliet’s narrow focus and fumbled execution don’t warrant comparison with the best of them.
The buzz: Wiig co-wrote the script, so you know "Bridesmaids" is no "Bride Wars."
In a lesser movie this would turn into the kind of horror show we've already been subjected to by hateful, stupid, anti-woman movies like Bride Wars, but here it winds up a story about the shifting, changing nature of adult friendships, with a little help from raging tantrums thrown using props like giant heartshaped cookies and chocolate fondue fountains to get the point across.
Before ‘nam styles flashbacks of Bride Wars come flooding in, take solace in the knowledge that the war between Annie and Helen is mostly psychological in nature, and never outlandish.
Like Stillman's " Metropolitan ," " Barcelona " and " The Last Days of Disco ," it gives us a hero who is articulate, multi-lingual, sophisticated beyond his years, and awesomely self-confident.
There’s no doubt that Winick has spent a lot of time reading the Woody Allen Guide To Angst-Ridden New York Comedy and his film also owes something to Whit Stillman’s films about equally pretentious prep school types (Metropolitan, The Last Days of Disco).
The structural conceit of Happy Death Day is obviously borrowed from Groundhog Day — which gets a hat tip in the movie’s final scene — but it actually has a lot more in common with the 2004 Jennifer Garner gem 13 Going on 30.
Other film dramas have dealt with the coming of age story, where a young man is introduced to love via an older woman—Summer of '42, for example—or any number of foreign films that introduce young men to adult lust, including the director's cut of Cinema Paradiso, Fellini's Amarcord , and Truffaut's Antoine Doniel series.
The humor can hedge on the side of being a touch immature but that’s to be expected with the 13 Going on 30 conceit of a teenager suddenly embodying a grown man.
A now-adult Billy (Zachary Levi) and new friend/foster brother Freddy (Jack Dylan Grazer) at first delight just as much in his abilities to buy beer and visit a gentlemen's club as they do the amazing superpowers he now possesses, but their adolescent fun and games come to an end when Billy's archenemy is revealed: Dr. Thaddeus Sivana (Mark Strong), a once-jilted candidate for Billy's otherworldly gifts who is willing to do anythingeven unleash monstrous representations of the seven deadly sins on the worldto attain them.A teenage kid suddenly made bigger has been covered in everything from 1988's wonderful "Big" (amusingly referenced here in one brief scene) to 2004's charming " 13 Going on 30 ."
It's the superhero equivalent of 13 Going On 30 where a teenager suddenly turns into a superhuman adult and enjoys his newfound superpowers and freedom—before the supervillain catches up to him, that is.
MGM's "Igor," written by Chris McKenna (TV's "American Dad!") and directed by Anthony Leondis ("Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch"), owes many debts, from its "Nightmare Before Christmas" production design (King Malbert being a less inspired version of Halloweentown's Mayor) to an amalgamation of Bill the Cat, "Pinky and the Brain" and MST3K's gumball bot for the characters of Scamper (voice of Steve Buscemi, "Charlotte's Web") and Brain (voice of Sean Hayes, TV's "Will & Grace"), Igor's assistants.
When you think about it, it’s a little bit strange there’s an entire genre of body-switching movies, from the “Freaky Friday” iterations to “18 Again!” to “All of Me” to “The Change-Up” to “Heaven Can Wait” to “Face/Off” to “Dream a Little Dream” and you could even include the likes of “Big” and “13 Going on 30” as a sub-genre in which there’s not technically a body switch per se, but a kid is living inside a grown-up’s body.
In a world with “Freaky Friday” (1976, 2003), “Vice Versa” (1988), “All of Me” (1984) – and please don’t forget “Big” (1988) and “13 Going on 30” (2004) too – a deranged sicko switching bodies with a self-esteem-challenged teenage girl is a textbook case of out-of-the-box thinking.
( 13 Going on 30 ?
His first starring role was in 1984's "Splash," director Ron Howard's mermaid-out-of-water tale.
I didn�t even recognize Redford�s work as the horse and in retrospect, found it even funnier (including the best horse gag since Animal House) and thankfully free of any reference to whispering.