Thirteen

Tracy Freeland (Evan Rachel Wood) is a smart, sweet, conscientious 13 year old. She lives with her single recovering addict mom Melanie (Holly Hunter). She befriends popular Evie Zamora (Nikki Reed) who leads down a road of stealing, skipping school, drugs, disobedience, and sex. Her mom struggles to stay in her life but she pulls away in anger. She doesn't like her mother's boyfriend Brady (Jeremy Sisto) either. Evie's home life is even more unstable living with her cousin Brooke (Deborah Kara Unger).

Catherine Hardwicke is giving this a spark that is more than an afterschool special dressed up with a lot of edge. It's written with some stories from Nikki Reed's life. ERW is a solid lead with both innocence and rebellion. She shows that she's a compelling actress. Holly Hunter is able to elevate her character beyond the usual clueless parent stereotype. Their relationship is the ultimate heart of the movie.

One of my favorite indies. This was me at 13 and I'm the same age as Evan. Great movie that needs to be seen by parents. The coming of age story people don't want to see but is all too real. Brilliant script and acting.

I think we have all known a girl like evie.she's the type that you could drop her in any city'school or area in America, and she will hit the ground running and be THE popular wild girl everyone wants and lusts after and who everyone wants to hang around.no matter where she moves, she will become the in crowd.

I think the movie captured the essence of that type of girl perfectly. she really is an interesting character.bad girl,YET because she can be so engaging she disarms immediatlly. notice how evie goes against the usual bad girl type cast by doing little odd things such as happily and in a very friendly way offers her new friends nerdy friend a slice of pizza.see the duo faces of the girl?her beauty and sweetness out of the blue knock people off guard allowing her to pretty much run riot in any situation and get away with it.

hard to believe the actress who played her also had a hand in the script.so young.but she is headed for big things, if not in the acting dept,most likely the writing.

I have loved this movie since it came out in 2003. It is well written, well, acted, and is realistic about subjects most people ignore.

Tracy (Evan Rachel Wood) is an average, well-behaved 13 year old entering middle school. While she struggles at home with her recovering alcoholic mother Mel (Holly Hunter), Tracy's main concern is to be liked by the popular girls. Evie Zamora (Nikki Reed) is the queen bee, and after she teases Tracy about her clothes, Tracy steals a wallet to impress her and they quickly become best friends. Evie is a deeply troubled girl who lies, steals, wears provocative clothing, has promiscuous sex, does drugs, and is abused and neglected by her guardians. As Tracy becomes more and more like Evie, engaging in similar bad behavior, her permissive mother totally loses control over her. Tracy is further agitated by her deadbeat dad and Mel's recovering addict boyfriend. Evie and Tracy are inseparable in their dysfunction, and when Evie is away Tracy often cuts herself. Tracy continues to spiral out of control with Mel watching helplessly, and Evie holding her hand through the entire thing.

This movie is good, but sometimes hard to watch. I find it very different from other movies because there are no character you ALWAYS sympathize with. You sometimes feel bad for and sometimes can't stand all of the three main characters. They are well-rounded and realistic. It saddens me that people often misinterpret the actions of the girls, who clearly have some traumatic pasts and inadequate parenting, as just "sluts" or that they "just need an ass whooping." It's very clear to see the pain, childishness, and desperate need for guidance in these kids if you pay attention. A must watch for anyone that lives or works with teenagers.

Tracy is a normal thirteen-year-old girl, dressed in bright pastels, bedroom full of soft toys and with giggly thoughts of boys. Starting school in the new term she finds everyone in awe of Evie Zamora and her friends – all of who have suddenly turned into sexy young ladies over the summer. With her goofy kid look, Evie blanks Tracy until she impresses her by stealing a purse to go shopping. As Evie gets in with Tracy's mum Mel, she also takes Evie into her own world of rebellion involving stealing, drink, disobedience, drugs and sex. Mel struggles to hold on to the small parts of her daughter that she still recognises.

At many points in our lives we all change and perhaps the first time it happens is the hardest to deal with. The stage where everyone seems to go from just being kids to suddenly being a peer group is a major one and this film, for all its extremes, does justice to the difficulties (for everyone) of the period in a story that is well written, cleverly directed and really well acted by the whole cast. The plot builds well on minor changes to Tracy and makes it totally clear where the pressure is coming from and how it affects her; in this regard the script is spot on and is totally convincing. When it goes to extremes it does show signs of stretching and almost breaking but it never does – while it is extreme it is still convincing and only two or three moments seem like they are going too far. Certainly I can't imagine many parents will be able to watch it without worrying about how they and theirs will handle the change when it comes.

While the writing is great, there does come a point where it needs to end and, while unconvincing, the film does at least draw to an end on an ambiguous ending and only the final shot of a 'isn't life hard' scream from Tracy struck a duff note and was too clumsy. As co-writer, Reed shows a real awareness of the world around her and she deserves the praise she got for that role but also her performance as Evie is praise worthy, but perhaps not to the extent that Wood's is. Wood takes us from a child to womanhood and never hits a duff note in her portrayal of a girl just trying to fit in.

She is excellent and her dynamic with Hunter is a perfect fit and also convincing; in my mind she is better than Reed because Wood had a more complex character to develop – Wood had to change her character, Reed played a character who was already there. Hunter deals with some minor clutter in her character but generally she is as good as her teenage cos-stars. Minor support roles for people like Sisto, Unger and Clarke all add to the film but really the film belongs to the lead trio. Director Hardwicke directs with style and with an eye for the clever shot – at times using fast camera motions while in one key scene just letting the camera frame the front room like it was a stage. She also uses a clever touch in tainting the film stock a washed out colour when Tracy's bubble finally bursts – we immediately go from bright colours to washed out blue and, even with the conclusion we only return to dark browns and not the highs of the main story.

Overall this is a very good film that is hard to watch if you have pre-teen kids. It has extremes in there and it won't apply to every teenager out there but to just call it unrealistic is to ignore the reality of peer pressure and the sexualisation of youth generally. The script is convincing, frightening and moving and is greatly helped by three great performances from Reed, Wood and Hunter.