8 – Susan Granger Reviews

13 Going On 30

Susan Granger’s review of “13 Going On 30” (Columbia Pictures)

It’s a new twist on a familiar time-tripping concept. New Jersey, 1987: Jenna Rink (Crista B. Allen) is a nervous, awkward 13 year-old. When her birthday party is a social disaster, she wishes for deliverance from the angst and insecurity of adolescence and – sure enough – when she awakens, it’s 2004. Jenna (Jennifer Garner) is now 30. She’s gorgeous. She’s glamorous. She’s giddy. She’s giggly. She’s got a lavish Manhattan apartment and a studly athlete/boy-friend. She’s the editor of “Poise,” a fashion magazine. She’s cool and popular. But – above all – she’s confused. How did she get there? And what happened to the last 17 years of her life? Writers Josh Goldsmith and Cathy Yuspa (“What Women Want”) strike notes of truth as they add tantalizing new twists to the same amusing fantasy that Tom Hanks handled in Penny Marshall’s “Big.” And director Gary Winick turns this sweet, romantic comedy-with-a-message – Be True to Yourself – into a great, rollicking romp about second chances and turning back time. Jennifer Garner of TV’s “Alias” is particularly delicious in her exuberant innocence. She’s a vivacious, natural comedienne, one of the brightest, most talented new actresses to emerge in recent years. As her editor-in-chief, Andy Serkis skillfully emerges from CGI anonymity as the Golem in “Lord of the Rings.” As her confidante, Judy Greer hits just the right duplicitous note. And as Jenna’s now-grown “first love,” Matt Ruffalo is charming and credible, particularly when she gets him to join her moonwalking to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.” On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “13 Going On 30” is an engaging 8 – a clever and beguiling chick flick that could turn out to be a terrific date movie. Bring on the “Wishing Dust,” along with the popcorn.

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THE PLEDGE

Susan Granger’s review of “THE PLEDGE” (Warner Bros.)

In this dark psychological drama, Jack Nicholson delivers a wrenching performance as a stressed-out Reno police detective facing retirement. On his last day at work, there’s a grisly homicide. An eight year-old girl has been found slashed, raped and mutilated in the Nevada snow. Her distraught mother (Patricia Clarkson) forces him to promise to find the killer, intoning:”Do you swear by your soul’s salvation on this cross made by our daughter?” Despite the “confession” of a retarded Native American (Benicio Del Toro), coerced by another cop (Aaron Eckhart), Nicholson is convinced that the child molester is not only still free but will strike again. So he ploddingly goes undercover, buying a local gas station and befriending a battered single mom (Robin Wright Penn) with a trusting young daughter (Pauline Roberts) he can use as bait. Judging by Sean Penn’s first two films (“The Indian Runner,” “The Crossing Guard”) and this, his directing choices are as quirky as his acting choices, beginning with extreme close-ups of Nicholson ice fishing, armed with a bottle of Glenfiddich. The sequence where Nicholson breaks the tragic news to the parents is set in the barn of a turkey farm; it’s a long shot with no dialogue. That scene is profoundly moving, graceful and lyrical, as are Nicholson’s conversations with the child’s grandmother (Vanessa Redgrave) and a psychologist (Helen Mirren). But the story by Frederick Durrenmatt (“The Visit”), adapted by Jerzy and Mary Olson-Kromolowski, is flat and deliberate, almost lethargic, framed by Nicholson’s bizarre ramblings and ruminations, resulting in an emotional detachment which is hard to overcome. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Pledge” is a haunting 8, emerging as a subtle study of pathological obsession.