‘13 Going on 30′ Turns 15: Celebrate by Admitting It’s a Better Film Than ‘Big’

Today is the 15th anniversary 13 Going on 30, and I’ve got something to say that certain folks might not want to hear: 13 Going on 30 is a better film than Big. There. I said it.

Let me begin this essay by stating that the 1988 film Big is great. Obviously! I’m not trying to argue against that undeniable fact. I certainly mean no disrespect to Big director Penny Marshall, who became the first woman director to gross over $100 million at the domestic box office with Big. That’s awesome. I adore Penny Marshall, and may she rest in peace. It goes without saying that Tom Hanks is the best. I am a Tom Hanks stan for life, unless, you know, he commits some sort of volatile crime. The script, from Gary Ross and Anne Spielberg, is fresh, imaginative and absolutely deserved that Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay.

I don’t wish to pit these two excellent films—which are, in many ways, very different—against each other, but the world has left me no choice. Storytime: When I was a young tween girl in 2004, my family went to see 13 Going on 30 in theaters. I loved it. I wanted to be Jennifer Garner, who was funny and relatable and down to earth. I was in love with Mark Ruffalo, who was sensitive and caring and adorable. I didn’t understand the joke about Andy Serkis’s balls getting squished, but I laughed anyway because Andy Serkis was hilarious. I’d never heard of Razzles, but I wanted some immediately, and got them in my stocking later that year. And don’t get me started on that romance; I still tear up when Matt (Ruffalo) tells Jenna, “You don’t always get the dream house but you get pretty close.”

In the car ride home, the first thing out of my older brother’s mouth was: “They stole the plot of Big.” My dad agreed. And that was that. It was a ripoff. It sucked. Dejected, I shut my mouth. I assumed they were right: Big was the better film. It had to be. It came first. Right?

Critics agreed with my brother and my dad: Nearly every critic, even the ones who liked the film, decked it points for “originality,” and that’s been the narrative of the film for the past 15 years. For what it’s worth, 13 Going on 30 is actually not the same plot Big, even if the concept is similar. In Big, Hanks’s character magically goes from being a 12-year-old boy to a 30-year-old man overnight, but he’s still in the present-day—his mom and best friend stay the same age. In 13 Going on 30, Jenna Rink is a 13-year-old in 1987 who magically gets transported to the year 2004, where she inherits not just the body of a 30-year-old but a whole new life: a career as a magazine editor, a new best friend (Judy Greer) and a hockey player boyfriend (Sam Ball).

I would argue this is an instance where 13 Going on 30 took the already-great concept of Big and made it better. In Big, Josh’s mom believes her son to be kidnapped—and possibly even being molested, given that Hanks is wearing her son’s underwear—a dark story element that, when remembered puts a damper on the fun of Hanks sliding down a giant piano. There’s also only so far you can ride the whole childlike-outlook-on-life schtick, and while Big finds a way, 13 Going on 30 writers Josh Goldsmith and Cathy Yuspa made it easier on themselves by opening a whole new world to play around in. Who doesn’t love to think about how rapidly-changing technology would confuse a time traveler from just twenty years prior, as 13 Going on 30 does when Jenna is driven mad by mysterious music coming from her bag (her cellphone)?

Both Big and 13 Going on 30 feature romance, and if we’re being honest, both romances are a tad squeamish. We are talking about children dating adults, even if those children are in the bodies of adults. But at least 13 Going on 30 doesn’t go as far as Big, which sees Hanks’ character actually having sex with Elizabeth Perkins’s character. Apparently, we are to believe this is every 12-year-old boy’s dream come true: Sex with a hot MILF!

I admit that I’ve never been a 12-year-old boy, but I find 13 Going on 30′s approach infinitely more realistic: Jenna—who is clearly not emotionally ready to have sex, as most 13-year-olds are not—freaks out when she sees her boyfriend’s “thingy.” And at least 13 Going on 30 spares the audience from actually seeing an adult Mark Ruffalo with a young Jenna Rink, unlike Big, which ends with Perkins saying goodbye to 12-year-old Josh. C’mon! I can’t be emotionally invested in a romance that ends like that!

Let’s get to the crux of the matter: Stories and concepts get reused all the time. Harry Potter is essentially Lord of the Rings. The pod race in Star Wars is the chariot race in Ben Hur. And how many times have you watched a dude get bit by a radioactive spider by now? The real reason 13 Going on 30 never had a shot at the prestige status enjoyed by Big is because it was made to appeal to women. “Chick flicks”— as some like to call romance films that center on a woman—are never “refreshing” or “poignant.”  Chick flicks, no matter how original they are, are “well-worn,” “formulaic” and “uninspired.” Big gets to be on the American Film Institute‘s list of funniest films of all time, while 13 Going on 30 gets dubbed a guilty pleasure.

But it’s 2019, women have been through a lot of shit recently, and I’m tired of pretending otherwise: 13 Going on 30 may not have been first, but it’s a damn good film—better, in fact, than Big. Phew. It feels good to get that off my chest. Happy 15th birthday, 13 Going on 30!

Where to stream 13 Going on 30

Where to stream Big