Bright Lights, Big City, Baby-Bottles? (Jersey Girl (DVD))

Member Name: Andy.mack

Product:	Jersey Girl (DVD)
Date:	27/10/09 (67 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Some good performances, easy going fun

Disadvantages: Not Smith's best work, Weak script lacking Passion

I've been a huge fan of Kevin Smith films for quite a few years now. His alternative comedy style has won him a great number of fans over the years. Everyone seems to have a favourite movie from him, my own personal choice being Dogma. It worried me however when I heard the news that he was stepping away from the comedy films that had made him such a cult hero to make something more main stream. He stayed true to his beloved Jersey but got rid of his regular characters and tried something different.

The story follows Ollie Trinke (Ben Affleck) a music publicist fin New York with the world his Oyster. That is until he meets Gertie (Jennifer Lopez) and his world starts to turn upside down. He proposes to Gertie after a weekend back at his dad's in Jersey. Within hours of the engagement Gertie is pregnant and 9 months later she dies during child birth. This leaves Ollie with a problem and after dumping his daughter Gertie (Raquel Castro), with his father Bart (George Carlin) he loses it slightly. Having blasted Will Smith and a room full of journalists Ollie loses his job and looks like he will never work in music again. He moves out of New York and back to Jersey to live with his father so that together they can raise little Gertie. It doesn't prove quite as easy as Ollie and Bart would probably like but they manage. Ollie is enjoying live back home but finds his jobs a bit of a dead end so keeps trying to get back into music. Will he succeed or will he listen to his daughter's will and stay in Jersey, well you'll have to watch to find out.

The plot is a pretty basic single parents struggle against the world and is totally different to anything that Smith has attempted before. It has been billed as a comedy but I would have to say it doesn't totally slot into that category. I'd personally say it was somewhere between a drama and a comedy. I thought it was certainly an enjoyable film but no where near his best work.

After years of being a cult comedy hero Smith's move into the main stream is really a mixed bag. It's hard to ascertain, which film is actually his best. My own opinion points to Dogma while many others would say Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. I have to say that Jersey Girl falls a long way short of everything Smith has done before. The script is average and unlike his other films you feel it's all been done before, whereas usually I find his scripts to be original and groundbreaking. Instead this one follows a Hollywood formula and doesn't seem to have the passion of his other movies.

The film is set in Smith's beloved Jersey and to that end there was no way the locations were going to be poor. He seems to know the area well and his passion for the state really shines through in all his films. With no special effects to speak of, the locations and soundtrack both play a big part in the plot. The soundtrack, like the locations, has been well chosen and fit's the scene's perfectly but even that isn't enough to make this an outstanding film.

The casting sees Smith pull in a number of his film regulars, which saves the film slightly. I thought Ben Affleck was pretty good in the lead role and as always Smith seems to get the best out of him. He seems to take to the role of Ollie as a natural, to start with as the stuck up music exec and later as the father once his career has fallen apart. He also has on screen chemistry with J'Lo as this film was made while they were still a couple. I was quite glad though that she wasn't in the film for long as I find her to be a poor actress and really doesn't suit the part.

As far as child stars go Raquel Castro is actually pretty good. It's unusual for a child in a lead role of a film not to annoy me throughout, think Anakin Skywalker and Hayley Joel Osment. Instead she seems quite confident and really suit's the role Smith has cast her in. To round the cast off, as always I thought George Carlin was superb. I love him in pretty much every film he has been in and this is no exception. He takes to his role superbly and as another Smith regular like Affleck he really brings a lot to the film that would have been lacking had someone else been cast in that role. There are a number of guest appearances from other regulars like Matt Damon and Jason Lee and the aforementioned Will Smith, all of whom add slightly to the plot.

Overall compared to Smith's other work it's certainly not in the same class. The passion and originality is missing even thought the cast on the whole is pretty good. I expect he'll be making more movies like this in the future, although his next film is a return to the Jersey Trilogy and a follow up to Clerks. If you like Smith's work then I would suggest you see this but be prepared it probably wont live up to the expectation and legacy of his older films. Rent it once or wait for it on Tele as it is quite enjoyable, it's just not Kevin Smith.

Summary: Ben Affleck stars in Kevin Smith's Jersey Girl