Jennifer Garner is beautiful, of course, but she has another quality that shines here: she manages to appear consistently spontaneous throughout the movie. (Neve Campbell is the only other actress that I can think of who can manage to do this.) Garner's performance is so winning that the movie, which is otherwise mostly formulaic, still feels fresh. (She doesn't give a performance that is as masterful as Depp's in "Pirates...", but she shows that she has what it takes to be a movie star, and that's still something to see.)
Review of 13 Going on 30
