YMMV / 13 Going on 30

• Alternate Character Interpretation: Lucy is meant to be a straight up antagonist, but it's possible to read her as a former Alpha Bitch who grew up and matured somewhat—she sincerely enjoys herself doing the Thriller dance, seems to like Jenna as a friend and appears genuinely hurt when she discovers that Jenna essentially screwed her over. It's possible to read her Face–Heel Turn in the third act as a little more understandable.
• Harsher in Hindsight: Adult Jenna's flirtation with a child is cast in a harsher light not only by the cultural shift of the #MeToo movement, but by her adulation of Michael Jackson, who would have a fresh Pædo Hunt scandal break out between the production of this movie and its release.
• Jerkass Woobie: Jenna herself, though the Jerkass part is only technical. She realizes just what an awful person she grew up to be and can't handle it. Jennifer Garner is very good at looking like a kicked puppy when the scene calls for it.
• Moment of Awesome: The "Thriller" choreography (yeah, the one from Michael Jackson) is freaking awesome.
• Retroactive Recognition:
  • Brie Larson as one of the "Six Chicks" during her child actor phase.
  • Ashley Benson as one of the "Six Chicks" in the opening.
  • Felicity Jones can be seen on the covers of the magazines at Poise and Sparkle.
• Ron the Death Eater: Fans of the film tend to do this to Wendy, treating her like she’s awful towards Matt and their relationship is unhealthy. In reality, the worst things we see her do are take some food from her fiancé’s plate without asking first and slightly misremember the name of a complete stranger whom she had only met once previously and spoken to for maybe thirty seconds (calling her Jenny instead of Jenna).
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Some critics noted how the film missed an opportunity to have Jenna become a Fish out of Water in regards to then-current technology (with the only reference to it being a Running Gag with Jenna thinking she's hearing noises in her head when cellphones are going off) and also in regards to how much pop culture had changed since the 80s.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Though he does go through with the wedding (and this is ostensibly supposed to be the honorable choice), Matt treats Wendy terribly and shows her a boggling amount of disrespect over the course of the film. Jenna only finds out that Wendy exists in the first place when Jenna and Lucy bump into Matt while he's out shopping with her. Matt is obviously distracted and thinking about Jenna when Wendy flies into town to see him and ignores her over the lunch she bought him. Matt makes plans to hang out with Jenna the night before his wedding without even telling her that it's the night before his wedding, and he kisses Jenna and considers leaving Wendy for her, all presumably without telling Wendy that any of this happened.
• Unintentional Period Piece: Jenna works at a fashion magazine, and any mention of celebrities falls under this trope — examples include a young Eminem on the rise and Jennifer Lopez at her peak. The soundtrack and the fashion also combine to place the Present Day scenes squarely in the early aughts. And obviously doing the math with Jenna being thirteen in the 80s would place her turning thirty in the 2000s.
• The Woobie: Richard, when Poise goes out of business in the end. It's hard not to feel bad for him in this scene, especially considering how hard he tried to save the company from going down.

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