Jersey Girl (2004 film)
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Jersey Girl is a 2004 film written and directed by Kevin Smith, and starring Ben Affleck. With its $35 million dollar production budget, the film was Smith's biggest-budget project to date. However, it was panned by critics and was a box-office bomb, nominated for three Razzie Awards. Jersey Girl is the only one of Smith's films to be set outside his "View Askewniverse" of interlocking characters and stories. The failure of the film could be blamed on the relationship between Ben Affleck and Jennifer López falling apart during the filming of this film, as it was already on rocky ground after the failure of Gigli the year prior.
Plot outline
Ollie Trinké (Ben Affleck) is a powerful media publicist in New York City who loses his wife (Jennifer López) in childbirth. To avoid his grief, Trinké buries himself in his work and ignores his new daughter, Gertie, while his father (George Carlin) takes 30 sick days in a row to care for her. Hoping to get Trinké to live up to his responsibility as a parent, one day his father returns suddenly to work, leaving Trinké to deal with his infant daughter. Under the stress of a botched diaper change and a baby who won't stop crying, Trinké trashes his client in front of the assembled reporters and even lashes out at them. As predicted ("This guy is toast"), the public outburst costs Trinké his job and he moves in with his father in New Jersey. Trinké is humbled by the experience and finally looks upon his daughter with approval and conviction.
Now blacklisted by all the New York public relations firms, Trinké has tried unsuccessfully for years to get work as a publicist. He finally takes work as a civil servant in the borough where he now lives to get by. Gertie (Raquel Castro), now in elementary school, often coaxes her father to rent movies to watch. At the video store, they meet Maya (Liv Tyler), one of the store's clerks. Maya soon becomes a good friend and part of their lives.
As part of his job in the borough, Trinké speaks to a group of outraged citizens to win over their approval for a major public works project that will temporarily close a street in the neighborhood. His successful and enjoyable interaction with the crowd leads him to realize how much he misses the public relations work. He contacts Arthur (Jason Biggs), his onetime protege, who sets up a promising interview.
The real prospect of moving to New York creates tension between Trinké and his daughter, his father and Maya, but Trinké is absolutely resolved to regain his old status. However, while waiting to be interviewed, Trinké has a chance encounter with Will Smith (playing himself), who Trinké had trashed at his public outbust years before. Smith has no idea who Trinké is but their conversation about work and children makes Trinké decide to sacrifice the former for the latter. Trinké is able to make to his daughter's "Sweeney Todd" musical performance at the last second (she was assigned to do a musical number, which, as it turned out, was the only one not to be "Memory" from Cats).
Response to the film
Critical response to the film was mixed, with some critics panning it for being cliched, while some other high profile critics (including Roger Ebert) were pleased that director Smith was trying different things in his film career. The film was not a commercial success at the box office, making only $25.2 million domestic and $10.6 million overseas against a $35 million dollar budget (easily Smith's largest) and a $15 million dollar marketing campaign. Like all of Smith's films, it has since gone on to make a lot of money on Video and DVD, and has turned a profit.The film was nominated for three Razzie Awards. Worst Actor for Ben Affleck, Worst Supporting Actress for Jennifer López, and according to the press release, "Ben Affleck & EITHER Jennifer López OR Liv Tyler" for Worst On-Screen Couple.
Smith has blamed at least part of the film's reception on public perceptions of the López-Affleck relationship and their widely-panned previous release, Gigli.
In response to negative reviews following the movie's release, director Kevin Smith was quoted saying his movie was "Not for critics." [link]
Raquel Castro won a Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a Feature Film - Young Actress Age Ten or Younger for her performance and the film was nominated for Best Family Feature Film - Comedy or Musical.
The Extended Cut
An extended cut was shown at Kevin Smith's private film festival Vulgarthon in 2005 (and will be shown again at the upcoming 2006 festival) and was met with a lot of praise, even from people who weren't fans of the original cut. Cut scenes that featured in the extended version included a much longer extension of the Jennifer López section of the movie that fleshed out the characters more, Ben Affleck's full speech in the city hall, a longer ending, and some music changes.
On the film's audio commentary, Smith states that a longer version of the film will be released within the next year. As of July 2006, no announcment has been made.
Cast
- Ben Affleck (Ollie Trinké)
- Jennifer López (Gertrude Steiney)
- Liv Tyler (Maya)
- Raquel Castro (Gertie Trinké)
- George Carlin (Bart Trinké)
- Stephen Root (Greenie)
- Jason Biggs (Arthur Brickman)
- Will Smith (Himself)
- Jason Lee (PR Exec. 1)
- Matt Damon (PR Exec. 2)
Taglines
- He wanted it all...but he got more than he bargained for.
- Forget about who you thought you were, and just accept who you are.
Trivia
- Originally, Bruce Willis was to be the star Ollie badmouthed (when it was set in the late-eighties), but a deal with Willis couldn't be secured.
- A Dogma video is visible in Maya's video store.
- In the bar scene at the end Maya walks out of the men's restroom. This is a reference to the darts scene in Chasing Amy when women and men can be seen going into the wrong restrooms in the background.
- Smith, who is often criticized for the look of his films, was initially excited to have Academy Award winning Vilmos Zsigmond as the film's director of photography. Yet in retrospect he's referred to him as "an ornery old cuss who made the crew miserable" and that he'd rather stay in his "comfort zone" with those who he chooses to work with.
- Paulsboro, New Jersey, which served as one of the shooting locations of the film, thanked Smith for his contribution to the town by renaming a street near its high school "Kevin Smith Way."
- Smith's first PG-13 rated film. However, it was originally given an R-rating due to the dialogue with Ollie and Maya in the diner, yet upon appeal, the rating was changed to PG-13.
- Smith, fearing a public backlash due to the bad box office reception of Gigli, reportedly cut Jennifer López's part into a cameo to try to make the film more suitable for a wider audience, but it backfired.
External links
| Kevin Smith |
| Films |
|---|
| The View Askewniverse: Clerks. | Mallrats | Chasing Amy | Dogma | Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back | The Flying Car | Clerks II Other: Jersey Girl | An Evening with Kevin Smith | The Green Hornet | Superman Lives |
| Television |
| ' | ' |
| Comics |
| Clerks | Chasing Dogma | Bluntman and Chronic | |
| Notable characters created by Kevin Smith |
| Jay and Silent Bob | Dante | Randal | Banky | Alyssa | Leonardo | Bluntman and Chronic | Mooby | Brodie |
| Other related articles |
| View Askew Productions | | Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash | Silent Bob Speaks | Buddy Christ | Quick Stop Groceries |
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