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July 2, 2008
New old Jersey
Just watched most of Kevin Smith's JERSEY GIRL on TNT, with obviously edited profanity. So I don't know if this counts as a proper review, but at last I feel qualified to speak on it.
For those that don't know, this is the other movie (not GIGLI) where Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez get romantic, but she dies early on, leaving him with a kid. He's a hotshot publicist, and a thoroughly neglectful dad, and when his father (George Carlin) finally resists being a non-stop babysitter, shit hits the fan, as fatherhood and job-hood collide.
A few years later, Ollie (Affleck) is working as a garbageman alongside his pops. And he starts to fall for a video store clerk played by Liv Tyler.
That's about it, plotwise, and it's weird to see Kevin Smith working with such a conventional formula -- the sentiment of being a new father was clearly getting to him.
Now, while I admit that this movie works to a degree -- I'm getting sentimental about family ties the older I get -- it is also full of dishonesty, and that pisses me off.
-- Successful male publicists are usually gay, first of all. Trust me, I work with lots of 'em.
-- I do not buy for a second that Will Smith regrets his acting career because it takes him away from his kids. Especially since his son co-starred with him just over a year ago.
--Ben Affleck should never have to do crying scenes.
-- Liv Tyler, upon meeting Affleck's character only twice, suddenly offers -- nay, demands -- that he have sex with her, once she realizes he's in a long dry spell. I don't see that happening in reality for a garbageman, even one who looks like Affleck.
-- We get the usual "career-versus-family" shtick, and may I say I hate when successful Hollywood directors lecture the rest of us about how success isn't important at all. There need not be as much conflict between dad doing a job he loves and the kid being happy than is made out here. Kids are resilient, and while I don't endorse parents who move house all the time (been a victim of that, thanks), the idea that moving from Jersey to NYC so dad can do a job he's actually good at will devastate the daughter, who'll likely end up in an even better school if dad prevails, is ridiculous.
-During a scene where we get to see that Ollie "still has it" as a PR guy, Smith does something I find inexcusable: he doesn't let us see how. Rather than show Ollie actually spinning and winning townspeople over, he drops out the sound and makes the scene a montage, so we just have to take his word for it that Ollie's good, rather than actually seeing it in action.
Kevin, if you believe half the crap you're peddling here, quit making movies. Let your wife be the breadwinner, and spend every waking hour at home with your daughter (named Harley Quinn, alas). Otherwise, you're contradicting the message of your own film.
Posted by LYT at July 2, 2008 2:11 AM [Message Board]
Comments
Luke, don't you remember that this movie isn't for the critics? You have no right to critique it.
I think I watched jersey girl on tv too, right up to a little after liv tyler offers to jump his bones. After that I realized the movie was just lazy and probably didn't have anything else to offer.
Posted by: ReJeKt at July 2, 2008 7:02 AM
Quitting his job isn't the point--if it was, he wouldn't have been able to work as a garbage man either. It's being consumed by something that keeps you away and takes precedence over everything and everyone else in your life.
So yeah, if he went to New York, they'd have more money and she'd be in a better school. But she'd just have a nanny because Dad would be all about work again.
It's one thing to say "Pursue your dreams, do what you're passionate about," but once you have kids you have responsibilities beyond your own pleasure and happiness. I think that may have been more what he was dealing with--the realization that you can't just continue to be a selfish prick once you procreate.
Posted by: Peggy C at July 6, 2008 10:51 AM
But why can't he be a publicist with a lighter schedule than before?
Part of being a parent is also providing for your kids. Granted, when his dad dies (it being George Carlin, we can figure ten years on), he can sell the house, and that'll be his daughter's college fund. What then? Maybe he'll be married to Liv Tyler and have another kid. If he's a wealthy publicist, I'm sure she'd quit her lucrative video store gig.
You know what is more of a full-time job than being a publicist? Directing movies. And that's why I have trouble hearing Kevin Smith lecture us on this topic.
Posted by: LYT at July 6, 2008 2:03 PM