Jersey Girl

Jersey Girl is the new and surprisingly uninspired film by director Kevin Smith. Where in the past his characters have engaged in urbane but witty conversations about nothing as they do nothing, here is a story about someone, trying to do something. Unfortunately what the film is trying to do is emulate every other parent movie ala The Family Man.

Here the films surrounds Ben Affleck playing Ollie Trinke a high profile PR man whose life falls apart when his wife dies delivering their first child. Luckily this removes the first stumbling block, the whole Bennifer distraction as Jennifer Lopez makes a glorified cameo as Ollie’s wife Gertrude who dies 15 minutes into the film. Unfortunately a woman dying in childbirth is not an uncommon occurrence, unfortunately neither is anything in the storyline. Ollie copes with his wife’s death by going straight back to his demanding job and spending all of his time there. Once he takes his baby home from the hospital he dumps her with his father in New Jersey and goes back to the city to work. Of course in going back too soon he is not ready for the stress and strain so on the day of a big release, his father leaves him with the baby and he publicly humiliates himself getting unceremoniously thrown out of the PR business. Thus he is forced to give up his high power life in the city as he moves in with his father in New Jersey. He has a touching moment where he confesses to his infant daughter his shortcomings and vows to be the best father, and nothing else.

Then the movie flashes forward 7 years. Gertie Trinke, Ollie’s daughter played by Raquel Castro, is now 7, in school, and preparing for the requisite school play. Her father runs the street sweeper with his father and his father’s two buddies. He of course has not dated in 7 years but he is blackmailed into a date with Maya, played darlingly by Liv Tyler, the video store clerk who catches him renting porn with his overly shrewd daughter and begins to get him to open up again to women. Of course this leads to a cute scene of the daughter catching her father and his new love interest in the shower and allows her to blackmail her father into the best part of the movie allowing her to perform Sweeny Todd in the school play. Of course I loved the school play scene with the Sweeny Todd song, very fun but also very disturbing. But I couldn’t help but wonder how much work went into their performance and how well constructed their set was. I’ve never seen that in a school play, but that is just me.

Of course as the movie progresses Ollie wants to get his old life back. He has interviewed many times over the years but with no luck. After getting up at the local board meeting and getting through a road construction project he feels back in the game. A great opportunity presents itself when his former assistant takes a job with a big company and lands him an interview with the company head. Of course this interview directly conflicts with his daughter’s school play. In addition his desire to change his life comes into direct conflict with everyone else’s desire to keep life exactly the way it is and causes numerous arguments between Ollie and all of the members of his family.

Two things at this point: One, I remember a number of school plays, some of which were disasters, but if my parents had missed one I don’t think my world would end or I would be scarred for life. The only thing I can think of is that the pageantry of the school play carries well to film and that is why films always put such significance on the activity. Two, why can’t Ollie find another job? He is a shrewd young man with a degree and a lot of drive, certainly there is some sort of job between high power PR exec and street sweeper, perhaps insurance adjuster or pharmaceutical marketer? It may not be glamorous, but it seems like the parents in these stories are in either a rags or riches mode, no one has a midlevel white collar job. I thought it would have been nice if Ollie could have parlayed his success at the city council meeting into a job in the public sector and become more involved in his New Jersey neighborhood. Alas, that would be too different and potentially boring, better to go with what has worked in a thousand films before. It is penthouse or pauper, exec or factory worker. Wouldn’t it have been better to show a man who had to slow down the pace of his life to have his daughter and spend time with his father without the requisite life in the city angle?

I found this film to be completely different from what I had expected, and not necessarily in a good way. I know that Kevin Smith is reaching a point in his life where he wants to go more mainstream and he is involved with his family and producing more family oriented faire. I think he succeeds with this film; he has made a formulaic family centered film that lacks originality and imagination.