Jersey Girl. What was the problem?

T

Taylor

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I watched Jersey Girl for the first time yesterday and have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it. Does anyone know why it was so universally panned by the critics? The only reason I can come up with is that it's quite sentimental and sweet but it doesn't really pretend to be anything different.

Have I missed something here?
 
It wasn't exactly slated by the critics - if you have a look at MRQE.com you'll see that it actually received quite average reviews ( http://www.mrqe.com/lookup?^Jersey+Girl+(2004) ). I think it was just a 'wrong place, wrong time' move really...

Firstly, with Kevin Smith directing the film, many people went to see the film expecting it to be a witty teen comedy and when confronted with something different reacted quite negatively.

Secondly, Ben Afleck was undergoing something of a backlash due to overexposure and the unfortunate release of a 'film' called 'Gigli'. Therefore, people didn't really want to go and see a film with this 'star'.

Thirdly, the film was marketed fairly badly; as such it suffered at the hanRAB of pre-release jitters from various negativite (mostly unfounded) reports about the film's content.
 
It was given the Gigli Mk II label pretty much after that piece of rancid poo droped in the cinemas. The whole Bennifer shennanighans overshadowed that movie pretty badly to the extent that he edited out a fair chunk of J.Lo's part in the movie. As much as I like the theatrical cut (I knew it was not going to be smut laden dick n fart movie most people should have know it due to the rating) it contains a lot of Smith humour to which i was genuinely suprised at some of the stuff they got away with. It's a sweet film at the core about family and trying to cope/ moving on from the death of someone you love. Now I've seen the original directors cut and it's a different film in many ways. What happend when they cut down J.Lo's part (she's more than adequte in the role IMHO) is that we didn't get to see their relationship in full bloom, we didn't get to see how in love Gertie & Ollie were so we empathise less when she dies and have less understaning on why he grieves for so long and why he's hesitant about getting that mercy hump from Maya (Liv Tyler).

Smith grew with this film, yes it's slightly more formulatic but that goes with the territory with this type of film genre. It's far from being the bomb most people believe it to be and it's the film I now show people to introduce them to Smith even though I may know they wouldn't think of watching Clerks or Chasing Amy in a million years.
 
I forgot about the Ben and Lopez thing. I guess that's what did it. I'm not too up on the politics of Kevin Smiths films and what goes on with them. I might just check one out. Any reccomendations?
 
You want out and out cartoony fun?

Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back or Mallrats

Want one of the funniest films of all time?

Clerks (It's B&W but don't let that put you off)

Want a exploration in to relationships and love?

Chasing Amy

Want to laugh and take in some of life's spiritual questions?

Dogma
 
ben affleck and kevin smith say the same on the DVD commentary, ie that the gigli lopez thing was a killer plus smith changing direction quite a bit.

Also at the beginning of the commentary ben affleck slags off the 3am girls HA!

So the films not gonna win any oscars but its not rubbish and very watchable.
 
I saw Jersey Girl at the cinema, knowing nothing other than it was Kevin Smith (liked Clerks, loved Chasing Amy).

I thought it was possibly the worst film I've ever paid money to watch. I can't possibly imagine Gigli was even worse - like trying to visualise the higher dimensions of string theory, my brain simply can't handle the concept. One of the most hackneyed, cliched, fake scripts I've ever sat through. It was almost a parody of a terrible Hollywood film, like the Bruce Willis / Julia Roberts one in The Player. I just couldn't believe it was Kevin Smith. Not a single sylable rang true. The scene with Will Smith - excrutiating. The rush back home afterwarRAB - beyond excrutiating. I began to hyperventilate, saved only by breathing into my long-since-empty popcorn bag. Oh dear God, just thinking about it is making me go all over again... somebody... get..... me.....

Ah, that's better.

Believe me, I love sappy films. Could watch a fantastic triple bill of Sleepless in Seattle, Jerry Maguire and oh God even Love Actually. Hell, even Dirty Dancing had its charm. But this... ack. Ack. Ack. With two extra slices of buttered Ack.

IMHO...
 
Well you're wrong...

Don't get me wrong, I love Cameron Crowe and I really enjoy 'Sleepless In Seattle', but 'Jersey Girl' has them both beat. Most other romantic films are largely fantasies that really have no basis in the real world whatsoever. However, despite the fact that I watched JG not really expecting to like it that much, I was pleasently suprised with how refreshingly honest the whole thing is. Plus I felt that the parental relationships were very well handled (Both between Father and Son and Father and Daughter).

It's true though that 'Gigli' (Another film which garners undeserved hate, a lot of the time from people who've never seen it, but they heard it was bad so they joined in on the fun) hampered the chances of JG quite a bit, and Smith denies that he cut Lopez out because of that (I think it's far more likely that Harvey Weinstein was responsible for that). I think that over time more people will warm to it though.
 
I saw Jersey Girl the first time at the cinema when I was kinda drunk and I thought it was a great movie and couldnt understand why everyone hated it. I rented it again Now I know. Its such a piece of crap movie! I can't believe I paid twice to see it.
 
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