Jersey Girl
** 1/2
PG-13, 103 m with Ben Affleck, Raquel Castro, George Carlin, Liv Tyler and Jason Biggs. Directed by Kevin Smith. Opens tomorrow.
If writer/director Kevin Smith's 1997 masterpiece "Chasing Amy" was a machete, his latest film "Jersey Girl" is a butter knife.
The film opens in a classroom, as the children are reading papers about their dad. As one shy-looking kid begins to say the word "shit," he is cut off at the "shh" and it is immediately clear that this Kevin Smith film is different.
Smith was never one to rely on dirty words - although his movies were jam-packed with all of them. That was just how his characters spoke. Smith has cut the dirty words, but that's not the only weapon in Smith's arsenal that was lost.
Somewhere along the way, Smith confuses sentimentality with emotional depth, pumping his film with more "aw shucks" than true heart. Smith abandons his cynicism, but also his wit in the process. He forgets that a film can be both smart and emotional. "Jersey Girl" is like Smith's other work in that it is unapologetic. Whereas his past movies have been unapologetically crude, "Jersey Girl" is the polar opposite. It revels in sentiment.
"Jersey Girl" centers around music publicist Ollie Trinke (Ben Affleck) and his relationship with his daughter Gertie (Raquel Castro). Through their ups and downs, Trinke has to balance his professional and romantic life with his home life, at the expense of all three.
Smith's goal is ambitious. His characters are dealing with conflicts that he is yet to explore as a filmmaker. Marriage, death and parenthood are some of the topics brought to the forefront in this film. Smith tackles big issues; however, his approach comes dangerously close to being didactic. Instead of cleverly alluding to relationships and death, he lays it out so plainly that it seems routine.
Despite these flaws, Smith has not made a bad film. At times, his brilliance for conversational screenwriting shines through. He inspires excellent performances from his cast as always, even from longtime collaborator Affleck, whose terrible career choices of late have made him the butt of every joke. Coming off wretched performances in last year's "Paycheck" and the notoriously awful "Gigli," Affleck delivers a surprisingly good performance. This is thanks to Smith, whose dialogue is perfect for Affleck. Affleck has done virtually all of his best work in Smith's films, the very best being "Chasing Amy."
"Jersey Girl" sinks or swims on not only Affleck's performance, but also 7-year-old Castro's. Castro is cute in the role, but she is also talented enough to hold her own among the rest of the cast. The second-tier characters give solid performances as well. Jason Biggs as Trinke's old co-worker and George Carlin as Trinke's father are two of the best in the film.
Overall, Smith has made a good movie that is definitely above the average Hollywood offering. But "Jersey Girl" lacks the biting wit of Smith's previous outings. What this film is missing is not dick-and-fart jokes, but emotional depth, which it cannot make up with sentimentality.
