rating:
(out of
4 stars)United States; 2004
Directed by Kevin Smith; produced by Scott Mosier; written by Kevin Smith
Starring Ben Affleck, Liv Tyler, Jennifer Lopez, Jason Biggs, Stephen Root, Mike Starr, Jason Lee, Matt Damon
Below you will find a temporary review for this film. The real (better, more complete) review will be online very soon.
'Jersey Girl' is a more serious film from director Kevin Smith. It has the
same kind of tone as his 'Chasing Amy' but there is no encounter with Jay or
Silent Bob, there is no room for talking about comic books and there is only
one little line that has something to do with 'Star Wars'. May be it is less
funny than his other films, it is also more of a human story that could be a
very true one. As a fan of Smith's other movies did I like this film?
Actually I did.
It is too bad that the film starts with a relationship between Ben Affleck
and Jennifer Lopez since they made the disastrous 'Gigli', but here you must
try to forget that. Affleck is Ollie Trinkle, Lopez is Gertrude, she gets
pregnant and unfortunately dies giving birth to their daughter. To make
things even worse at work Ollie makes a terrible mistake that has to do with
Will Smith (Ollie is a publicist): he gets fired. He moves in with his
father (George Carlin) trying to raise his daughter the best he can. She,
also named Gertrude (or Gertie, played by Raquel Castro), grows up to a nice
little girl. One day when Ollie and Gertie rent some videos they meet a nice
girl named Maya (Liv Tyler) who could be a nice girl for Ollie, although she
feels he is still not over the death of his wife six years ago.
There are a couple of things that make 'Jersey Girl' pretty entertaining.
First of all it is quite funny at times, which is a nice thing when you are
watching a comedy. It is also a lot less predictable than you might expect.
The romance Affleck and Tyler could have does not play the way it does in
most romantic comedies, but takes unexpected turns. Although the film ends
with a setting that is quite familiar in the genre it is effective in its
own way. How Liv Tyler is used here is also very effective, making her one
of the lights of this film, together with the lithe Raquel Castro. Smith
once again proves he is a writer and director of great skill who has his own
style and has seen enough films to avoid certain mistakes. He is good when
his films are very different from others (like 'Dogma') with weird
characters (every character in 'Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back') but he is
also quite good with a more serious film like 'Jersey Girl'.