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13 Going on 30 The Rewatchables September 29, 2026

Is There a Better Title for This Movie?

No

In the discussion (4)

Approx. transcript time · 01:21:30Read transcript

The first answer is no.
Abroad, including Australia, it was called Suddenly 30, apparently because the original title wouldn't translate, despite Sound of Music's "16 Going on 17".
Asked by name whether Suddenly 30 is preferred, a third participant answers that 13 Going on 30 is better.
Another voice calls Suddenly 30 pretty good and likes it; "30 and flirty and thriving" is the line of the movie and probably the porn parody title.

13 Going on 30 The Rewatchables September 29, 2026

The Vincent Chase Award: Are We Sure This Character Is Actually Good at Their Job?

Jenna; her boss

Flex pick · Juliet Litman

In the discussion (4)

Approx. transcript time · 01:22:28Read transcript

Both Jenna and her boss, played by the Andy Serkis / Gollum character, are questioned.
The boss loving the presentation shows terrible taste, and inviting Sparkle's editor-in-chief to the Poise party makes no sense.
Jenna, while committing IP theft, keeps a paper trail instead of making a phone call.
The response agrees neither was good at the job, which is why Poise was in trouble.

13 Going on 30 The Rewatchables September 29, 2026

The Butch’s Girlfriend Award for the Weakest Link in the Film

The return-to-13 ending

In the discussion (3)

Approx. transcript time · 01:23:56Read transcript

Back at 13 with eight days of being 30, she still ends up with Matt, though redoing 17 years should change everything; it doesn't track.
Unlike Big, where the kid seems to remember nothing, she does appear to remember, ripping up the paper when Tom Tom returns.
She presumably spends high school being kind and waiting for Matt, knowing he'll look like Mark Ruffalo in 17 years.

13 Going on 30 The Rewatchables September 29, 2026

What’s Aged the Worst?

No email or internet; the hockey player and his striptease; cheap apartment decor; Jenna's lack of curiosity about 2004; the art-department husband; the plastic-surgery line

In the discussion (9)

Approx. transcript time · 01:25:20Read transcript

Jenna hitting on a 13-year-old boy is called really uncomfortable, while the other participant thought the punchline was great and fine as a joke.
It would be worse with genders swapped; she looks sexiest in that scene, and Lucy would have had her committed after it.
Seven minutes in heaven is called gone, with pushback that it may be consensual and better than drugs; Matt's seven-minutes joke was ahead of its time.
There is no email or internet in a 2004 movie.
The hockey stuff insults hockey players; the hosts say the 2004 Rangers went 27-40, and real hockey players are stoic, unlike Alex Carlson; the goofy striptease is the worst scene, which is agreed.
Jenna's apartment has cheap-looking kitchen cabinets and furniture.
She isn't curious enough about 2004, missing an easy Michael Jackson cover joke, unlike Elf.
The scene where the husband of Tracy from the art department comes in, with a line about the drawers last week, felt like it was from a different movie; it was meant to show she was an awful person but didn't work.
Ruffalo's character talks about the plastic-surgery movement as if it were over.

13 Going on 30 The Rewatchables September 29, 2026

The Ruffalo / Hanna / Rubinek / Partridge Overacting Award

The New York Ranger's striptease

In the discussion (2)

Approx. transcript time · 01:29:31Read transcript

It's got to be the striptease with the New York Ranger, agreed; the guy coming into her office to make out with her is offered as an alternative.
Anything sexual in this movie is not well done; Big pulled it off with the gender switch and Penny Marshall directing.

13 Going on 30 The Rewatchables September 29, 2026

The Stephen A. Smith Hottest Take Award

It is not a rom-com but a teen movie; Vienna was the most underrated great pop song from 1977 to 2004

In the discussion (6)

Approx. transcript time · 01:29:57Read transcript

It is not a rom-com but a teen movie: they end up together only through time travel, Jenna is 13, there is no threat to overcome, and the moral is be a nice person.
The response: it might not even be the hottest take, just right.
From 1977 to 2004 Vienna was the most underrated great pop song, among the best ever with Wonderwall, Hey Jude and I Will Always Love You, and it took 28 years for a movie to unlock it.
Billy Joel reportedly calls it one of his two best and credits the film's popularity with girls for its late success.
Vienna and Summer, Highland Falls are called his underrated great songs; the other participant came to love it via the Spotify algorithm and calls it a B-side-like song that sets the scene apart.
A participant's daughter sang Vienna at a fifth-grade talent show, a parenting highlight, though no other parent knew the song.

13 Going on 30 The Rewatchables September 29, 2026

Casting What-Ifs

Reported backups Gwyneth Paltrow, Hilary Swank and Renee Zellweger; Paul Rudd and Sam Rockwell for Matt

In the discussion (4)

Approx. transcript time · 01:33:38Read transcript

Paltrow, Swank and Zellweger were reportedly backups if Garner couldn't do it; neither participant thinks they work, though mid-90s Zellweger might.
Young Jenna looks like Hilary Swank; Paltrow and Ruffalo later made a flight attendant movie that was not good.
The casting director reportedly said Paul Rudd and Sam Rockwell were next if Ruffalo turned it down; Rudd could work.
Test audiences reportedly hated the original young Matt and young Jenna, who were reshot with different actors.

13 Going on 30 The Rewatchables September 29, 2026

The Joey Pants “That Guy” Award

Kiersten Warren as Trish

In the discussion (2)

Approx. transcript time · 01:35:05Read transcript

Kathy Baker is too known to count; Gollum is "clearly" offered, but the response is that he is too famous after 20 years of movies.
The alternative is Kiersten Warren as Trish, the frizzy-haired Sparkle editor-in-chief at the party, recognized from Saved by the Bell: The College Years; called a good one and a great call.

13 Going on 30 The Rewatchables September 29, 2026

The Dion Waiters Award for Best Heat Check Performance

Arlene the assistant

In the discussion (2)

Approx. transcript time · 01:35:33Read transcript

Young Tom Tom, the frizzy Sparkle editor and the cab driver (ASR "chris grundy" / "grandy") are offered, but it's clearly Arlene the assistant, hitting home runs and crying during the worst pitch ever.
Arlene is loved, especially when invited along with "aren't you coming?" and visibly touched.

13 Going on 30 The Rewatchables September 29, 2026

Recasting Couch

Mark-Paul Gosselaar as Alex Carlson

In the discussion (5)

Approx. transcript time · 01:36:26Read transcript

Tim Curry is offered for the magazine editor role.
Ryan Reynolds as Alex Carlson, post-Van Wilder, is suggested, but the other participant has always been anti-Ryan Reynolds and finds him unlikable here.
Mark-Paul Gosselaar is offered instead, the most important actor to that participant from 1986 to 1992; "I could see that working."
Scott Wolf would have been great but is shorter than Garner.
The movie would work in almost any city, such as Chicago, Boston, LA or San Francisco.

13 Going on 30 The Rewatchables September 29, 2026

Best Hang / Worst Hang

Young Matt

In the discussion (4)

Approx. transcript time · 01:38:14Read transcript

A Lena Dunham running Spahn Ranch award for most jarring casting, Andy Serkis as Smeagol in an office, was considered but already covered.
Best Hang / Worst Hang is a category believed to be off the flex list, called accidentally deleted.
Young Matt is a sneaky great hang: independent, dancing to Talking Heads, good music taste, a photographer and woodworking hobbyist who fetches his keyboard guitar to save the party.
The response: would absolutely have been friends with Matt in the 80s; a good one.

13 Going on 30 The Rewatchables September 29, 2026

Half-Assed Internet Research

Christa B. Allen's repeat young-Garner role; Garner's childhood photos on the closet door; deleted Alex Carlson breakup scene

In the discussion (3)

Approx. transcript time · 01:39:37Read transcript

The hosts report that Christa B. Allen played 13-year-old Jenna and again played Garner's younger version in Ghosts of Girlfriends Past.
The hosts report that the seven-minutes-in-heaven closet door shows actual photos of Garner as a child.
The hosts report that a deleted scene of Jenna breaking up with Alex Carlson is on the Blu-ray special features; one participant owned the DVD in college.