Smith’s ‘Jersey Girl’ a formulaic cop out

ALLEN MACDONALD

Writer/director Kevin Smith has always had a lot of heart. For the

last 10, years he has proven to be one of the raunchiest, clever and

fearless filmmakers out there. Films like 1994’s “Clerks” and 1997’s

“Chasing Amy” displayed a guy with a distinct voice who knew exactly

what he wanted to say and never sugarcoated it. But these films also

lacked an artistic edge. They were talky and visually uninspired, but

they were always fun and uncompromising. Smith’s biggest detractors

accused him of being juvenile and silly, and they were right, but

that was also his main charm.

With 2001’s “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back,” Smith graduated from

the teen gross-out genre he’d reinvented in favor of making more

mature, adult-themed films. In other words, he wanted to be taken

more seriously as a filmmaker.

Which brings us to “Jersey Girl,” his first effort as a grown-up.

I can say it has a lot of good intentions. I can’t say I liked it. To

be honest, it was nothing short of cringe-inducing. The story begins

with Ollie (Ben Affleck), a hot-shot entertainment publicist, trying

to balance his busy career with his new wife (Jennifer Lopez), who’s

pregnant and pressuring Ollie to spend more time at home.

Unfortunately, and this should be no surprise to anyone who’s seen

commercials or trailers for “Jersey Girl,” J. Lo dies in childbirth,

and Ollie is forced to raise the child alone. Through a series of

connected events, Ollie is forced to quit his high-paying job and

take a blue collar gig in his home town of Highlands, N.J. Seven

years pass and Ollie’s daughter Gertie (Raquel Castro) is now the

center of his life. Ollie has not only sacrificed his career, but his

love life, because he’s still in love with his wife.

This brings us to “Jersey Girl’s” first problem: it takes 40

minutes to set all this up -- and it’s 100% predictable all the way.

From here, the movie simply unravels as Smith pushes the story along

from scene to scene. Two major developments brew: First, Ollie meets

a quirky grad student, Maya (Liv Tyler), who works at the local video

store and begins having romantic feelings once again. Second, Ollie

yearns to have his old life back in the city, and soon gets the

opportunity. The question is, will he choose his simple life in

Jersey or return to his shallow, profligate life in Manhattan.

In choosing to deliberately construct a mainstream movie, Smith

has suppressed all the qualities that made him different, and as a

result, has fashioned a movie that may be safe and family-friendly,

but is also just plain boring. Uncensored, Smith humor is irreverent,

raunchy and witty, but his characters always used those traits to

cover a sweeter, romantic side. The dialogue leaped out of his

characters’ mouth like artillery -- a rapid-fire barrage of words.

“Jersey Girl” is also shamelessly sentimental. Everyone says

exactly what they mean. The emotions are inauthentic and

uncomplicated; Smith might as well have put on subtitles that said

“Cry here, please” -- it wouldn’t be any less subtle. It’s also hard

to track Ollie’s decisions. His character is never consistent. You

never get a firm grasp on who he is, because his actions and

motivations shift from scene to scene. His decisions don’t reflect

his character, they do whatever is necessary to move the sloppy plot

forward. Smith seems to genuinely believe in the material, but the

script reflects a lazy, disconnected approach to the material.

“Jersey Girl” is the movie where you’re supposed to laugh

riotously because the cute kid says the most precocious things, and

we’re supposed to laugh along, saying out loud to the person seated

next to us, “Boy, that kid’s smarter than her Dad!”

Virtuoso cinematographer Vilmos Zgimond shot “Jersey Girl,” so

most Smith fans have made an effort to recognize that this is the

best shot Smith film yet. Well, that may be, but it’s also the worst

shot Zgimond film ever. When it comes to telling a story visually,

Smith is at a loss. He relies to heavily on the dialogue to push the

story forward.

* ALLEN MacDONALD, 30, recently earned a master’s in screenwriting

from the American Film Institute in Los Angeles.