Thirteen

Thirteen-year-olds go freaking nuts in this film about how not to raise your children. Fifteen-year-old Nikki Reed co-wrote and co-stars in this semi-autobiographical take on her rebellious young history. Not to be taken as a typical look at 13-year-olds, it is, however, an intriguing study of two young girls who haven’t quite gotten their priorities straight and aren’t getting much help from the adults in their lives. Evan Rachel Wood finds herself in the running for year’s best youth performance as a teenager who goes wild after befriending the most popular girl in class (Reed). Her decline from top student to speed freak is, perhaps, a little too fast to be believable, but so go the constraints of a two-hour movie. Holly Hunter is powerful as the confused mother, and Jeremy Sisto very good as her shaky boyfriend.