OPENS AUGUST 6, CERT 12A, 98 MINS
In the time-honoured tradition of body-swap comedies-Big, Freaky Friday, er, Face/Off-comes a sugary mainstream vehicle designed to do for rising Alias star Jennifer Garner what Pretty Woman did for Julia Roberts. There’s no mistaking it’s a chick flick from hat to heels, but it has a few shrewdly funny scenes, and an ’80s retro soundtrack boasting Talking Heads, Soft Cell and Pat Benatar’s “Love Is A Battlefield”. When Jen quotes the lyrics to this, her co-stars go, “Wow. That’s so…deep.”
As a 13-year-old in ’87, Jenna (Garner) is frustrated. She wishes she was 30, and some sparkly magic dust does the rest. Now it’s 2004, and Jenna’s spooked by mobile phones, bewildered by her boobs, horrified by naked men and urging everyone to dance to Jacko’s “Thriller”. She’s a hotshot NY magazine editor, and there are quality jokes at the industry’s expense. She’s also besotted with childhood sweetheart Mark Ruffalo: cue heavy rotation of Madge’s “Crazy For You”. You’ll chuckle, despite yourself.