Review of Jersey Girl (2004) by M N — 18 Mar 2013

Despite Ben Affleck's best efforts and his likeable performance in a flawed character role, he can't make Kevin Smith's stilted script anywhere near as moving and sweet as Smith would have hoped it to be.

Switching frequently from deep emotions to cheap gags has a jarring effect and some of the plot points are pretty ludicrous. *Spoiler alert* The film apparently condones a father renting a porn video while his daughter is with him, and rather than being repulsed by this action the store clerk is instead attracted to him.

Said father later gives up the opportunity to get a good job and provide for his and his daughter's future and instead stays as a low-paid "civil servant", despite having been unhappy in this job for seven years, just so he can witness his daughter sing an inappropriate song from Sweeney Todd at a school talent show.

This supposedly displays he is making the right choice and putting family ahead of work, but it's NOTHING like real life, and it's selfish of his daughter to want him to slave away in a job he hates and miss an opportunity he's been striving for to change his life.

I got the points that were trying to be made in the film but I think they're made so sloppily that I struggled to accept them. Smith has since commented that "All these people were just trashing this movie's stars instead of looking at the movie itself", as if he thinks it's the performances that are flawed rather than his own writing and direction.

I've looked at the movie as well as its stars and I'm trashing it rather than them.