Review of Thirteen, directed by Catherine Hardwicke

As I continue with this blog, which produces reviews of movie, theatrical shows, and books alike, I find that there are so many movies and forms of content I’ve waited years to watch. Realistically, the average human is not going to be able to watch or read anywhere close to everything in the world, but you can try.

That means I find out about movies and probably way up to five years sometimes before I actually end up watching them. In the case of Thirteen, I’ve known about this movie since I saw the first Twilight movies due to the Hardwicke connection. I was about ten when I first watched Twilight, so I’ve certainly known about this movie for over a decade.

I don’t know how I ended up watching it, but it was May 2024. I’ve been very backed up on blog posts, so this will actually probably come out in January 2025, but I’m writing this way in the past. But I did end up seeing this movie when I was away rotting away home before heading to Korea, so we know that.

I’m rambling, so let’s get into the review before I get too deep into my head.

A teenage girl falls deeper into chaos as she turns thirteen.

The main character of this movie is Tracy, who is thirteen and very capable. She’s intelligent and an honors student at her local middle school, which is an achievement because her mother is a recovering alcoholic who’s barely getting by financially raising her two kids alone.

However, Tracy is depressed, and her mother is never home to notice how her daughter is falling. Day one of school Tracy comes across Evie, the popular girl, who mocks Tracy for her clothing attire. Tracy begs her mother for more trendy clothes, despite her mother not being able to afford it, and then gets on Evie’s good side.

Evie invites Tracy to go shopping in Hollywood, but then Evie gives Tracy a fake number and claims it is hers. She’s not going to give up easily though, and she shows up anyways. Despite this, she gives Evie and her friend Astrid the side eye because they’re going shoplifting. However, she steals a woman’s wallet after becoming more comfortable with it and they go shopping with the money.

The two girls become closer from that point on, and Tracy gets sucked into Evie’s life. That consists of a lot of sex and drugs, which is a stark contrast to what Tracy was living like before. When Evie’s guardian is out of town for two weeks, she asks to stay with Tracy and her family.

It’s there she learns Tracy cuts herself, and Tracy’s mother starts to catch on that her daughter’s new friend is actually a bad influence. After attempting to send the girl home, she notices how Evie draws Tracy away from her and her family.

The girls get even more reckless from that point on, but then Tracy’s older brother spots them on the streets with really sexual clothing. Tracy’s mother tries to send her away to her father to get Evie out of her life, but then that fails. The two weeks are up, but then her mother discovers that Evie’s guardian was just hiding because of a plastic surgery gone wrong.

Evie then asks Tracy’s mother to adopt her. She says no, and then Tracy agrees with her mother. She flees, and then Tracy discovers Evie turned all of her friends against her. She’s then also told she will have to repeat the seventh grade because of how bad her grades are.

One day, Brady offers Tracy a ride home, but discovers Evie, her guardian, and mother sitting in the room. Evie’s guardian believes Tracy is the source of the bad influence, but then she’s not listened to and the guardian, Brooke, declares she’s taking Evie away.

Tracy’s mother defends her, but then Evie’s guardian exposes her self-harm scars. They then leave, and Tracy resists her mother’s comfort. They fall asleep together on her bed, with the movie ending with Tracy dreaming of a merry go round.

Overall Thoughts

This is such an interesting movie to me, as it seems to encompass a side of teenage life that doesn’t seem to exist anymore. As someone who grew up in the tail end of it, it seems like these depictions of teenagers have evolved from these kinds of movies.

That said, I can appreciate this movie for when it was released for sure. There are some moments in the movie that are really tense and impressive for the younger actors, and they did a good job rolling with it and making these characters come alive.

I liked this movie, but I don’t know if I’ll return to it any time soon. I say watch it if you haven’t already and want to though. I think I watched it on Netflix for free with my subscription (or as free as you can get with a paid subscription).

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