OK, how obvious is my title? :)
Kevin Smith is a writer I admire tremendously. He has an uncanny ability to capture the way people speak in reality; not just in movie screenplay structure.
*Jersey Girl* is a real step forward for Kevin Smith. He returns to screens with a mature and funny film about a man learning to be a father. The style here is more aligned with Smith's terrific *Chasing Amy* than *Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.*
Ben Affleck is Ollie, a hot shot New York publicist with everything going for him. As the movie opens, he and his girlfriend Gertie (Jennifer Lopez) meet, get engaged and married and expect their first child together.
Then the unexpected happens: Gertie dies in childbirth and Ollie is left with his infant daughter. Mired in his own grief, he essentially ignores his child for the first month, leaving the baby care-taking to his Pop (played by George Carlin). A crisis moment comes where he's forced to handle both his career and his child at the same time, and it doesn't go well.
Flash forward six years and Ollie seems to have adjusted to a different life in a small New Jersey town. He absolutely adores his daughter, who is named for her mother. A young woman who works at a video store (Liv Tyler) enters their lives in an unusual way and the movie becomes an exploration of the push/pull between what someone wants for themselves and what they should do to meet the needs of others.
Two things could have happened with a movie like this. One is that it would be about how Affleck's character falls in love with the quirky video store girl and Gertie has to cope with the new woman in daddy's life. Two, the movie would be filled with cutesy "kid" moments that are meant for nothing more than easy smiles.
Neither of those things happen. Of course the little girl is cute, but there is substance behind it. The way Ollie and Gertie communicate with each other is very realistic and in many moments, fraught with tension that works. As far as the stuff with Tyler's character, the script doesn't persue a standard 'romantic comedy' courtship between the two. Instead, everything is repressed and tentative. Affleck's and Tyler's characters basically duck around their feelings for the whole thing.
Both of these directions were completely refreshing and as a result, the movie didn't feel so "standard."
I was happy to walk out of *Jersey Girl* feeling like the stuff that the press shoved down our throats regarding Ben Affleck is gone. This movie wipes that away, even though Lopez is in the movie for the first ten minutes. Ben Affleck's career will definitely survive the overexposure he's had, and this movie is the first step in ensuring that. It reinforces that he is a good actor, not just the latest dude to be dating the industry's latest hot chick.
George Carlin reigns in the schtick and gets to play a really solid character. Sure, he has some quips here and there, but he fills the role of loving "pop" quite well. Also of wonderful surprise is Liv Tyler, who is light and bouncy as Affleck's love interest. I found her performance really intriguing, especially since she is able to speak the lines of the character through her mouth, but have her eyes communicate something totally different at the same time.
Smith makes excellent use of music in this film. One scene in particular where Stevie Nicks' heartbreaking "Landslide" plays nearly had me in tears. And who would have thought anyone would be able to use a rather dark Sondheim musical to such greatly comic, and not too over the top, advantage.
There is also a scene in the film that contains one of the most natural exchanges of dialogue I've seen in a film. In a conversation between two fathers, Smith manages to make it seem as though two actors are speaking as themselves. It's a fantastic scene.
*Jersey Girl* is another reminder of how much I appreciate Kevin Smith. If you're looking for a sweet and charming time at the movies this spring, so far, *Jersey Girl* is a great bet.
Paul Katz
Kevin Smith is a writer I admire tremendously. He has an uncanny ability to capture the way people speak in reality; not just in movie screenplay structure.
*Jersey Girl* is a real step forward for Kevin Smith. He returns to screens with a mature and funny film about a man learning to be a father. The style here is more aligned with Smith's terrific *Chasing Amy* than *Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.*
Ben Affleck is Ollie, a hot shot New York publicist with everything going for him. As the movie opens, he and his girlfriend Gertie (Jennifer Lopez) meet, get engaged and married and expect their first child together.
Then the unexpected happens: Gertie dies in childbirth and Ollie is left with his infant daughter. Mired in his own grief, he essentially ignores his child for the first month, leaving the baby care-taking to his Pop (played by George Carlin). A crisis moment comes where he's forced to handle both his career and his child at the same time, and it doesn't go well.
Flash forward six years and Ollie seems to have adjusted to a different life in a small New Jersey town. He absolutely adores his daughter, who is named for her mother. A young woman who works at a video store (Liv Tyler) enters their lives in an unusual way and the movie becomes an exploration of the push/pull between what someone wants for themselves and what they should do to meet the needs of others.
Two things could have happened with a movie like this. One is that it would be about how Affleck's character falls in love with the quirky video store girl and Gertie has to cope with the new woman in daddy's life. Two, the movie would be filled with cutesy "kid" moments that are meant for nothing more than easy smiles.
Neither of those things happen. Of course the little girl is cute, but there is substance behind it. The way Ollie and Gertie communicate with each other is very realistic and in many moments, fraught with tension that works. As far as the stuff with Tyler's character, the script doesn't persue a standard 'romantic comedy' courtship between the two. Instead, everything is repressed and tentative. Affleck's and Tyler's characters basically duck around their feelings for the whole thing.
Both of these directions were completely refreshing and as a result, the movie didn't feel so "standard."
I was happy to walk out of *Jersey Girl* feeling like the stuff that the press shoved down our throats regarding Ben Affleck is gone. This movie wipes that away, even though Lopez is in the movie for the first ten minutes. Ben Affleck's career will definitely survive the overexposure he's had, and this movie is the first step in ensuring that. It reinforces that he is a good actor, not just the latest dude to be dating the industry's latest hot chick.
George Carlin reigns in the schtick and gets to play a really solid character. Sure, he has some quips here and there, but he fills the role of loving "pop" quite well. Also of wonderful surprise is Liv Tyler, who is light and bouncy as Affleck's love interest. I found her performance really intriguing, especially since she is able to speak the lines of the character through her mouth, but have her eyes communicate something totally different at the same time.
Smith makes excellent use of music in this film. One scene in particular where Stevie Nicks' heartbreaking "Landslide" plays nearly had me in tears. And who would have thought anyone would be able to use a rather dark Sondheim musical to such greatly comic, and not too over the top, advantage.
There is also a scene in the film that contains one of the most natural exchanges of dialogue I've seen in a film. In a conversation between two fathers, Smith manages to make it seem as though two actors are speaking as themselves. It's a fantastic scene.
*Jersey Girl* is another reminder of how much I appreciate Kevin Smith. If you're looking for a sweet and charming time at the movies this spring, so far, *Jersey Girl* is a great bet.
Paul Katz