Jersey Girl

Rating:
Summary: Mostly cliched, but there are some good things. (SPOILERS)
Review: "Jersey Girl," Kevin Smith's first foray away from Jay and Silent Bob, is a father's story. Smith, a new parent when he wrote it, had feelings about his experience that he wanted to share - how a reluctant single father, played by Ben Affleck, sees his life change because of a child and how he comes to embrace it. That part of the film rings true. And there are touching moments regarding how he deals with his seven-year-old girl's questions about sex. And Affleck's performance is better than usual.

However, much of the film is completely mundane, featuring movie cliches that are so tried and true that you'll often know where "Jersey Girl" is going before it gets there. For instance, when you hear the daughter in the film mention her "school play," you know something's going to happen to keep her father from getting there on time. After a downright wacky elementary school performance of "Sweeney Todd" (that no authority figure organizing the event seems completely aware of until it's onstage), the shocked audience proceeds to "slow clap" their way into a standing ovation.

And the movie's essential conflict at the end is between a father's ambition to be something other than a garbageman and loving the quirky life that he and his daughter already have, so the conclusion is far from surprising. (My problem with this film and other movies who pose this conflict, like "Sweet Home Alabama," is because few in Hollywood really picked the small town life, though they make movies about people who do.)

There was a Q&A with Kevin Smith after the screening I attended, and the Q&A was far more entertaining than the film. Smith, who has done edgy films confronting homosexuality and religion in the past, makes his most Hollywood-ized film here.

Rating:
Summary: I wish the critics could see the movie i saw
Review: A film by Kevin Smith

"Jersey Girl" is the sixth film by director Kevin Smith and it marks a departure for him. The departure is not so much in the tone or the theme of the film, because "Chasing Amy" was his first departure in that regard. Rather, the departure is that "Jersey Girl" is the first Kevin Smith film that does not feature the characters Jay and Silent Bob. "Jersey Girl" is a step forward for Kevin Smith and it may very well be one of his best movies.

Ollie Trinke (Ben Affleck) has it made. He is a public relations man and he loves his job. He has a woman in his life, Gertrude (Jennifer Lopez), that he loves. He is living his life in New York City and he couldn't be happier. Ollie and Gertrude marry and she becomes pregnant. Gertrude gives birth to a baby girl, but dies during childbirth. Ollie is left with a baby daughter, no wife, and a lot of pain. Ollie enlists his alcoholic father, Bart (George Carlin) to help with the baby while Ollie goes to New York to work. This works for a little while, but Ollie is ignoring his child and is lost in his work and in his pain. Bart finally objects and forces Ollie to take the baby with him to work on the day that he has to do a huge pr job for actor Will Smith. It is 1994 and at the time Smith was only a rapper known as the Fresh Prince and also a television star on the show of the same name ("The Fresh Prince of Bel Air"). If you didn't expect the level of superstardom that Smith reach, you would be like most every one else. Will Smith is supposed to be promoting his movie "Independence Day" and Ollie doesn't think much of it, especially since Smith has not shown up for his pr date at the Hard Rock. Stress and tension mounts in Ollie as the crowd of reporters chants Will Smith's name and Ollie has to deal with the dirty diaper of his daughter at the same time. Finally Ollie explodes, snapping at the crowd, insulting the reporters and bashing his client. Ollie is naturally fired from his job, and he moves back in with his father in New Jersey. Ollie finally gets that he is not being a good father and tells his daughter that he will be much better in the future.

Seven years pass. Ollie is a much better father to his daughter, Gertie (Raquel Castro). He has not stopped trying to get his old job back and his old life back. Ollie's life takes a turn when he goes to rent a video for his daughter, and a more "adult" video for himself, and he meets Maya (Liv Tyler), the clerk at the video store. Maya is initially interested in Ollie's "renting habits" and tries to get Ollie to agree to an interview for her graduate thesis. In the midst of this she makes a comment about Ollie leaving his wife at home that turns out to be embarrassing because, as we know, Ollie's wife died seven years ago. Maya later asks Ollie out to lunch in an attempt to apologize and when she learns how long he has been celibate (seven years), she decides to do something about that, too. If you have seen a preview for "Jersey Girl", you know that Gertie catches Ollie and Maya in the shower (where they were hiding out when Gertie came home) and this is the strange beginning to a friendship. As the movie continues Ollie has to make a decision if he is going to continue to pursue a life in New York City or accept that he is from New Jersey and that is really who he is.

"Jersey Girl" is very heartfelt and sweet. Ben Affleck has excellent chemistry with the major players in the cast and I cared about everyone in the movie. We, of course, want Ollie to stay in Jersey and we want him to fall for Maya, and we want him to be a good father to Gertie. "Jersey Girl" is also a very funny movie. Despite Kevin Smith's shift in tone for this film, he doesn't hold back in his dialogue and several things are wickedly funny. There is a scene where Gertie must sing a song for a class program. Every child chooses "Memory" from Cats, but Gertie chooses a scene from Sweeney Todd where there is a murder and a huge set is built for it. While it is perhaps a little sily that nobody knew what Sweeney Todd was (but then again, I didn't), it is also a rather clever, excellent scene. If you are a fan of the humor of Kevin Smith then there is something in this movie for you.

This film may have initially suffered from the "Gigli" fiasco, but Lopez and Affleck only share scenes in the first 15 minutes and then she is out of the movie. Despite all of the coverage of the "Bennifer" relationship, I honestly cared about this film relationship and was moved when Gertrude died. I understand that critics have not been overly kind to this movie (excepting, perhaps, Roger Ebert), but I wish that many of the critics could see the movie the way I saw it. Certainly there is cliché, but it was heartfelt and clever in its humor and knowing enough that even a slow-clap scene at the end felt appropriate and perhaps the way that the applause would actually have happened in real life (on the off chance that scene from Sweeney Todd was permitted in an elementary school). By no means is this a perfect movie, but I enjoyed every minute of it and I cared about what happened to the characters. To me that means that Kevin Smith did his job.

Rating:
Summary: Jersey "Sure"
Review: After the disaster that was Gigli and the initial lukewarm reception over his turn as Daredevil, actor Ben Affleck needed a career boast, turning to his pal director Kevin Smith for help, he fares much better in Jersey Girl.

Ollie Trinkie (Affleck) is a smooth talking, successful big-city publicist, who has the life he's always wanted - until things take an unexpected turn and he finds himself an unemployed single father back living with his dad Bart (George Carlin) and raising his daughter Gertie (Raquel Castro) in the Jersey suburbs. But just when he thinks his life has hit rock bottom, he meets Maya (Liv Tyler) a sexy, no-nonsense video store clerk. Ollie struggles to learn that sometimes you have to forget who you thought you were and acknowledge what really makes you happy.

Written and directed by Smith, Jersey Girl may be his most conventional film, but it overcomes its problems, thanks to its cast. Affleck is quite good as Ollie, especially in scenes opposite Castro and Carlin, and he also has spark with Tyler as well. Castro is a little gem and isn't one of those child actors who will annoy--she will make you melt. It's obvious that Smith is not afraid to "grow up", while still providing laughs. Look for some of Smith's pals to show up in some clever cameos too.

The DVD extras are solid. There are two audio commentary tracks. The first, has Smith and Affleck talking about the ins and outs of the film, including the performance of one Jennifer Lopez as Gertrude Steiney. The second track teams producer Scott Mosier and View Askew alum, special guest Jason Mewes offering their take. I enjoyed hearing Affleck and Smith talk about their shared filmograghies in From Mallrats To Jersey Girl, while the behind-the-scenes special is standard HBO type stuff and while I thought The Tonight Show with Leno's "Roadside Attractions" with Smith were funny, they seemed out of place somehow. The text interviews with the cast and crew were just plain redundant and not needed either.

Deadicated to his late father, Kevin Smith's Jersey Girl, may not be what his fans expect from him. But it's a worthwhile film as he tackles adulthood



Rating:
Summary: Jersey Boredom: Tries too hard to be funny
Review: Ben Affleck stars as Ollie, a self centered man whose wife dies in childbirth... (Come on Hollywood, I think more fictional character's wives die in childbirth than every happens in real life), leaving him custody of their only Child.

This story covers how Ollie goes from being an insufferable bigshot to the same insufferable character, this time, also a has-been.

I honestly expected this film to be a romantic comedy when I rented it. Instead its a long tedious drama filled with Ollie's brow-beating and self-centered behavior. I found Ollie's love interest (the video clerk), to be quite annoying. The little kid was a good actor and reminds me of Alyssa Milano at that age.

I can't honestly recommend this flick. I was bored and wanted to see Ollie's character come around a lot sooner. Instead, he was a total loser until the very end. Boring. 2 stars for some good acting on the father 'pop's' part, but I've deducted 3 stars for the sheer banality of the entire thing.

Rating:
Summary: looks good
Review: heres the cast so far off of movies.com

Starring Ben Affleck, Jason Lee, Jennifer Lopez, Liv Tyler, Jason Mewes, Joey Lauren Adams, George Carlin, Jason Biggs

the movie is :

Set in New York and New Jersey, circa 1996, the story is said to be loosely based on writer-director Kevin Smith's own experiences as a husband and father. Ollie Trinke (Ben Affleck), a slick music promoter, meets a book editor (Jennifer Lopez) at a company Christmas party and the two fall madly, passionately in love. But marriage and fatherhood bring about sudden changes in Ollie's previously simple life.

this movie is gonna have everything in it and i think its gonna be a great movie.

Rating:
Summary: I could only sit through this because I was trapped....
Review: I had the unfortunate experience of being forced to sit through "Jersey Girl" while en route from New York City to Boston via bus.

Despite being a huge fan of Kevin Smith, I had no desire to see this. Not even his genius could make J.Lo and Ben Affleck palatable.

Basic premise: Affleck and his giant head play Ollie Trinke (yes, Ollie Trinke), a man obsessed with his career as a publicist. He falls in love with Gertie, played by J.Lo, whose hair makes the movie even more annoying. They get married, Gertie gets pregnant, and everything seems to be falling into place until complications during childbirth lead to Gertie's untimely death and J.Lo's thankful exit from the film early on.

Ollie, unable to deal with the loss of his wife and having to deal with a baby on his own, falls apart. Because he is frantic and stressed, he loses his job. He has to move out to Jersey with his father, played by George Carlin, who he assumes will raise his child.

Flash forward - Gertie, Ollie's daughter, is 7 years old and played by the unbearably adorable Raquel Castro. Ollie has miraculously turned into a good and attentive father. While renting a movie, Ollie meets Maya, played by Liv Tyler, who is a graduate student working in the video store.

Hijinks ensue. There is a musical number. There are botched forays into the sentimental. There is unconvincing romance.

I have no idea why Maya was into Affleck's character. Yes, Castro makes Affleck more appealing, but one dimensional Affleck plays the character either smugly or devoid of emotion. Yet she is rabid. Makes no sense.

Affleck's performance is inconsistent and unconvincing, except for the portion at the beginning where he is playing the arrogant and self-obsessed publicist.

Smith's oversimplified journey into the saccharine falls flat in the hands of Affleck.

The movie ends up being pure sap and mostly bland.

Rating:
Summary: Not What You Expect-
Review: I orginally thought this movie would be a cutesy film you can watch with your family I rented it for family movie night with the hope we could all enjoy it.

I'm a huge Ben Affleck fan and I was hoping that after Jersey Girls things might look up for his career I only was disappointed by this poor family flick. The storyline is predictable and horrible at the same time going from Ben's attempted mercy hump to him showing up unexpectadley at his daughter's school show. Ben Affleck dosn't seem to connect with the little girl much and Liv Tyler the fairy from lord of the rings does a horrible job as Ben's love interest. The laughs stop after Ben denounces rising star Will Smith. This is not the cute family flick to watch with your kids.

Another boring part in this movie is the camera work that focus just on the faces with no angles or anything you kind of get bored. Not to mention Ben's soap operetic moments- such as when he is talking to his baby daughter about her dead mother-- you feel bad for how bad the movie is. My cousins were falling asleep half-way through it. Although, I did like the critcism of Cats(one of my least favorite musicals)

The little Jersey Girl sadly is not cute enough to save this train wreck of a movie Jersey Girl is this years combination of Uptown Girls meets Gigli it's not worth's it's price-tage and sorry Ben-- it's another Gigli.

Rating:
Summary: Not Kevin Smiths Best Film, But Is An Entertaining Movie
Review: I saw 5 movies in the theatre one day and they were:
Scooby-Doo 2
The Ladykillers
Jersey Girl
Dawn of the Dead
Starsky & Hutch
This was the 3rd best of those films. I liked it, but not only is it very cliched, but it is kind of stupid. Like the end BIG PERFORMANCE, is kind of annoying. I also think the little girl
Raquel Castro is kind of annoying and I don't think she looks a lot like Jennifer Lopez although there is a definite resemblance.
Ben Affleck in yet another career drowning role plays Ollie.
Ollie is a music executive, whose wife Gertie(J.Lo) dies during childbirth. After making a comment about Will Smith, which becomes a running joke in the movie, he is fired and is forced to move from New York City to New Jersey with his father Bart
(George Carlin, who is probably the funniest person in the movie)
One day at a video store while renting porn, Ollie meets Mia
(Liv Tyler, And I want to add. I HAVE NEVER met a woman like this and if women like this actually existed, then the whole face of mankind would be different). Cliche: Mia and Ollie have a kind of quirky relationship in the beginning of the movie.In the middle due to a comment Ollie makes about his daughter Gertrude (Castro) she gets mad at him and at the end, they love each other again :). Pure cliche here. I've never seen some of Kevin Smiths films that would be considered his classics. I've seen:Dogma & Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Nothing more.
This is in no way his best film, but it is not his worst film either. B-.

Rating:
Summary: Very cute!
Review: I thought this was witty and very cute! It really makes you stop and think about your own priorities in life. My 8 year old daughter loved this and the humor was light and quite honestly, I was really laughing! A good rental!

Rating:
Summary: Impressive
Review: I'm a big fan of Kevin Smith's first five movies, but I was well aware before entering the theater for Jersey Girl that this was not View Askew's classic blend of dick and fart jokes. If I hadn't known that, I might have wondered what the hell was going on, as this is actually a touching movie.

Jersey Girl has less similarities to Mallrats and more to Chasing Amy; it's about how love doesn't always go the way you think it should, but that doesn't mean it sucks completely. One thing that really took me by surprise was that the movie was less about Ollie Trinke and the video store clerk falling in love, but more about Ollie connecting with his daughter, and discovering what he really wants out of life, with a little help from Will Smith (ANOTHER big surprise there! Sorry if I ruined it for ya).

The movie may not be as slapstick and vulgar as Smith's previous works, but that doesn't mean it's squeaky clean and straight-laced; plenty of laughs in this flick. I liked the fact that Gertie, rather than perform something childlike and cute at the pageant, chooses a scene from Sweeny Todd, of all things. The acting here is as top-notch as the cast that delivers it; Jason Biggs and George Carlin were great, and Liv Tyler is cute as a button. Also, the soundtrack deserves a nod, especially for throwing in that Cure song at the end, which fit in perfectly.

The quabbles I had with the movie are few. The biggest one was the scene in which Trinke is talking to his infant daughter about her mother; it's a little too melodramatic. Afflek's acting just wasn't his best there, but it's still a good scene. The choice to include "Landslide" in the soundtrack was poor; not because it's a bad song, mind you (as it's not), but because I'm sure it's been used in plenty of soundtracks before, and it was a "safe" choice. Also, the scene with the diaper-changing was disgusting... though it was supposed to be. Actually, I just don't like watching the scene, heh.

So I give this movie 4/5 stars. I don't think it's his best work ever, and it's dangerously close to chick flick status, but it's a really good movie that will warm your soul. View Askew has by no means lost their touch, and I hope whatever movies they produce in the future are this good or better.