Jersey Girl   

Ollie Trinke: Ben Affleck

Gertie Trinke: Raquel Castro

Bart Trinke: George Carlin

Maya: Liv Tyler

Gertrude Steiney: Jennifer Lopez

Written and Directed by Kevin Smith

From what I hear (since I have no personal experience on the matter), having a child can change your life in ways you never thought possible.  This is the basis for Jersey Girl, writer/director Kevin Smith's ode to fatherhood starring Ben Affleck.  The story involves a workaholic publicist whose life is turned inside-out with the birth of his daughter and the death of his wife.  It sets straight what priorities become most important and eventually aren't even given a second thought. 

The film opens with an extended prologue sequence about 10-12 minutes long used to set up the rest of the movie.  It deals with Ollie's pre-daughter lifestyle and his romance and marriage to Gertrude (Jennifer Lopez).  It feels a little too long and Affleck and Lopez don't really work on screen together.  I'm not sure if it is something just implanted in my head due to their public breakup, but there is no chemistry between the two.

Don't get me wrong, I have absolutely nothing against these people as actors (Lopez's performance in Out of Sight was remarkable, and I wish she would go back to similar roles), and even though her death in the film is tragic, I still felt a sense of relief that she was gone and the movie could get started. 

The movie as a whole was a pleasant surprise and further proof that Kevin Smith (Clerks, Chasing Amy) is a talented writer and director.  Except for a couple of small, sugary moments, the story avoids any huge dips into saccharinity by remaining honest to the actual experiences and pitfalls of raising a seven-year old daughter.  Raquel Castro helps in this regard by not resorting to just playing a sweet little girl filled only with eye-rollingly cutesy remarks.   

Affleck gives a nice portrayal of Ollie.  He looks comfortable in the role, which is probably due in large part to the fact that Kevin Smith might be the only writer or director that he is comfortable with.  This is his fifth collaboration with Smith, and their familiarity seemingly brings out a little more of him, culminating in a truly wonderful scene involving Affleck and Castro walking in Central Park.  You get humor, sadness and heart all rolled up into a loving father-daughter conversation. 

While not being a huge Liv Tyler fan, she wins me over a little with her turn as Maya.  She starts out with the right notes of nervous energy when she first meets Ollie, which soon develops into a sincere admiration and love.  It is a good performance from an actress that hasn't shown me too much in the past.

I think what blows me away the most is the amount of negative reviews (and some downright nasty, like Christopher Kelly's in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram) this movie has been saddled with.  Is there a built-in prejudice against Ben Affleck for his role in the "Bennifer" fiasco?  I only say this because a lot of the condemnations against this film are pure reaches that could only be "found" by those determined to find them.  Sure, there's nothing groundbreaking about Jersey Girl, but it achieves what Smith set out to accomplish: to make an honest, gratifying movie about a father raising his daughter.