Tom Hanks Makes an Excellent Overgrown Kid in Big

Several years ago, I saw 13 Going on 30, the Jennifer Garner romantic comedy about a teen who wishes her way into a life 17 years in the future, at which point she has everything she thought she wanted and is miserable. Hearing about the movie beforehand, I thought it sounded largely like a knockoff of Big, the whimsical Penny Marshall movie I recently re-watched. I wouldn’t really say that anymore, but one thing they most definitely have in common is an adult star putting in a winning performance as a 13-year-old in unfamiliar skin.

In the case of Big, it’s Tom Hanks who suddenly finds himself in adult shoes, but he’s not catapulted into a future of his own creation. Instead, the morning after a humiliating carnival experience leads him to ask the Zoltar wish-granting machine to make him big, he awakes in his own room with a very different body and must try to figure out how to explain this sudden growth spurt to his mother and best friend. His traumatized mom doesn’t buy it, but his buddy, the more world-wise Billy (Jared Rushton), eventually does. With his help, he heads for the city to rent an apartment and get a job to make ends meet until he can figure out how to undo his wish.

Hanks brings both vulnerability and exuberance to the role of Josh, who is such a fish out of water, at least at first. At times, he seems almost too youthful for his 12-year-old self, but there’s an extra dose of incredulity at play because he is seeing everything from such a fresh perspective. On the other end of things, he settles into his new data entry job at a toy company very quickly, without even really needing to be told what to do. However, he soon lands a new position for which his youthful outlook makes him unusually qualified. What kid wouldn’t love a job that essentially requires testing out toys all day? The scene in which he lands this promotion is pure joy as he and his genial boss (Robert Loggia) show all of the customers in the super-sized toy store what fun it is to play, regardless of age.

The most fun parts of the movie are those that similarly allow Josh freedom to be a kid in his adult body. When his raise lets him relocate from a seedy hotel to a lavish apartment – a little unrealistically lavish, I think, considering how long he has been working, but then this film is fully fantastical – he turns it into the ultimate G-rated bachelor pad. Watching him in this environment is a blast, and it’s fun to survey the expansive space and see the quirky way in which he has chosen to furnish his new home. It’s also amusing to see how his frank insights frustrate his co-workers, who are used to analyzing everything to death.

However, there is a bittersweet edge to the story as he begins to adjust to the adult world and slowly he becomes more grown up than Billy. Rushton is convincing as a boy who is willing to accept his friend’s strange circumstances but never expects them to be permanent. He’s particularly effective as he conveys Billy’s hurt feelings as Josh begins to move more fully into the adult world. Now that Josh has gotten his wish, will he even want to go back to the way things were? Is being “big” all it’s cracked up to be? And how much longer will Billy have to shoulder the burden of the truth alone while Josh’s distraught parents wonder when their son will return?

I love Loggia in the role of the paternal boss who finds Josh’s outlook so refreshing, and Hanks and Rushton are great together. It’s easy to forget that they aren’t really the same age; they really do just seem like two schoolyard chums. While romance was central to 13 Going on 30, it’s more of a side plot here as Josh becomes involved with Susan (Elizabeth Perkins), a coworker entranced by his unaffected manner. This storyline is sweet in one way but uncomfortable in another, since we know that Josh is really psychologically in early adolescence. The movie strongly implies a level of intimacy between them that made me squirm; Susan has no idea that Josh isn’t exactly the 30-year-old he appears to be, so it’s not like she’s intentionally seducing a junior high schooler, but it just feels a bit icky to me. I would have preferred if they hadn’t let it progress that far, but then that action is a major catalyst for Josh’s behavior later in the movie.

Ultimately, while 13 Going on 30 is mostly about appreciating the people who truly care about you and maintaining your integrity, Big is about savoring your childhood and not being too eager to jump into the privileges of adulthood, which come with an equal share of pressures. As a romance, it fizzles a bit for me, but as a reflection on retaining the joy of childhood, I’d say it’s right on target.