Thirteen

Thirteen. 2003 Fox Searchlight Pictures.
Starring: Evan Rachel Wood, Nikki Reed, Vanessa Hudgens, Holly Hunter, Brady Corbet
Director: Catherine Hardwicke
Buy Thirteen at Amazon.

Yes, I watched this on December 13th. I know, I'm lame.

Anywho, Tracy (Wood) is a thirteen year old girl who just entered the seventh grade. She's a straight A student who writes poetry and has a penchant for wearing bad clothing. Her mother is Melanie (superbly performed by Hunter), a recovering addict who struggles as a hairdresser (working out of her own kitchen) to support Tracy and her older brother, surfer dude Mason (Corbet). Following a very awkward first meeting with Evie (Reed), the local out of control wild girl, Tracy changes her image. Evie gives Tracy her approval, such as it is, and gives her a fake phone number and an invitation to go shoplifting on Melrose that afternoon. To fit in, Tracy steals a woman's pocketbook, and the girls go on a shopping spree, followed by Evie and Tracy becoming inseparable BFFs (and it's hinted that they may be even more than that). The two girls go into a wild ride filled with drug abuse, sex, lies, body piercings, and more petty crime, capped off by their inevitable falling out at the end of the film.

Tracy, while still thrilled to be part of the in-crowd, is still unhappy about Melanie's boyfriend (Jeremy Sisto), and starts shunning her old friends. She turns to cutting to cope with her stress, which Melanie doesn't know about until the climax of the movie.

Okay...Thirteen is not at all a bad film, but to me, it is somewhat unbelievable, mostly because I never knew anyone remotely like any character in the movie when I was that age. This is not to say that there weren't any girls acting as wild as Evie or Tracy do during most of the movie, but I personally never witnessed anyone acting like that.

Well, at least not until the eighth grade in a new state and a new school. Talk about culture shock, but that's neither here nor there. Recommended movie (just not a completely realistic one), even if Catherine Hardwicke was the one who directed the film adaptation for Twilight.