JERSEY GIRL review

Undoubtedly JERSEY GIRL will have its detractors… Kevin Smith has apparently sold out. His latest film looks fantastic, beautifully lit and photographed by Vilmos Zsigmond giving majesty to a view regularly askewed by clunky camera movement and flat lighting. The film also is lacking in tops to tails Star Wars references and Dick-n-Fart jokes. Also missing is great gobs of cynicism which seems to fester on the internet like the acne of those that seek a new type of porn in their seemingly endless hours clicking and whacking away. No… This Kevin Smith film is emotional, sweet and filled with love for families.

The lead character played by Ben Affleck doesn’t have buddies to pal around with. He’s not wearing comic character shirts and I don’t believe he ever once reads a comic in the movie. He isn’t a geek, he doesn’t want to be a geek and in actuality he’s a professional. One of those people that has a job, albeit it is a job doing publicity for celebrities, but even that isn’t for long. Soon he’s just a blue collar kind of guy doing street work, driving a street cleaner and climbing in and out of manholes in streets in the suburbs. He doesn’t hang in a bar picking up chicks, or drink brews with his friends while spilling his soul about his intact virginity. This guy is so “normal” he even has a kid and a wife that’s… well not around anymore.

He’s raising a kid as a single father, living with his crotchety old pops somewhere in New Jersey. His dad is George Carlin and his little girl is adorable. This is a film made about sons and fathers about what it is to become a dad. This is a film about letting go of lofty ambitions and being there for your kids. It is a movie about GROWING UP, something that too many of Kevin’s snootchie bootchie followers will freak out like they were chained to a seat at an Oakridge Boys concert. For most geeks out there, there is that point in life where that dream to be a filmmaker… has to go away. Where that comic book goes undrawn, and a diaper cries to be changed. When suddenly that racket with the electric guitar ceases to feel cool and bills need to be paid. This isn’t a reality for all, but unfortunately… it is the reality for most. After all, there’s only so many astronauts, presidents and porn stars… and most of us don’t have the dicks for all three.

This doesn’t mean you become a loser, Ben Affleck doesn’t become a loser, he becomes a father, like his father before him… and with that comes it’s own rewards. Looking into that daughter’s eyes and seeing him as she does… Creating a world of dreams for her to grow in. Being there for his father as he faces that decaying future of old age alone. It is also about recognizing the time to move on past romances and loves lost and finding that person to spend your life with, the one that you find yourself living, not the one you imagined.

JERSEY GIRL is incredibly alive and filled with wonderful moments. The fight between Affleck and his daughter is brutal, the interview between Liv and Ben is magically frank, and that musical number… hilarious. I found Kevin’s wit stamped on every scene, the dialogue pops and Ben is never better than when Kevin is filling his mouth. Um… With words.

I’m not sure how many of you will take to this film, many of my friends hated it. But then, I do live with a father who often talks about growing old and getting sick… All around the time I saw JERSEY GIRL and the time that I find myself writing this review, I have found myself dealing with the reality of moving my grandmother to Austin so that my family here can care for her. And every single day I see my 3 1/2 year old nephew’s eyes light up big and ask questions about zombies and the alphabet. My twenty-something friends are becoming 30… some are buying homes like me, others are moving away. Some have given up their dreams, while I find myself living them everyday waiting for them disappear as most do each morning as your eyes first part.

I find the film to be a mature geek film about falling in love with a video store clerk that married Aragorn, while becoming infamous for talking shit about Will Smith. I love the movie, for me, it is right there with CHASING AMY as one of my faves from the brain of Kevin Smith. It isn’t the juvenile delight of JAY & SILENT BOB STRIKE BACK, but then… well, this one is about growing up as a man, a father and a son.

And by the way… Liv Tyler is so yummy in this movie. I mean absolutely adorably wonderful. I don’t believe I’ve ever loved her more in a film. She is such the dream of a video store clerk girl. And George Carlin is absolutely fantastic in this. Just absolutely great.

Remember, this isn’t supposed to be part of the Jersey series that Kevin has been filming since CLERKS. That’s why Jay & Silent Bob are not in this film. Instead this is his first film outside of that universe… it just so happens that a big chunk of it takes place in… Jersey. Give it a chance, go with an open mind and realize this is about growing up, this isn’t an adolescent fantasy… except for the whole getting to have sex with J. Lo and Liv Tyler part… that’s kinda like… a fantasy I had once… every night for like a year… or two… or three… Butt that’s beside the point. This is a truly wonderful film. I hope Kevin keeps Vilmos for GREEN HORNET… I’d love to see Vilmos getting to shoot cool films with cool directors again.