Jersey Girl (2004 film)
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| Jersey Girl | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster. |
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| Directed by | Kevin Smith |
| Produced by | Scott Mosier Kevin Smith Bob Weinstein Harvey Weinstein |
| Written by | Kevin Smith |
| Starring | Ben Affleck Liv Tyler Raquel Castro George Carlin Jason Biggs Jennifer Lopez |
| Distributed by | Miramax Films |
| Release date(s) | March 26, 2004 |
| Running time | 102 minutes |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $35,000,000 |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Jersey Girl is a 2004 film written and directed by Kevin Smith, and starring Ben Affleck. It was Smith's biggest-budget project to date (filmed on $35 million), but ended up underperforming at the box office while receiving many negative reviews. Only a select few prominent critics reacted favorably, while Roger Ebert gave the film three and a half out of four stars.
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[edit] 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.
[edit] Plot outline
Ollie Trinké (Ben Affleck) is a powerful media publicist in New York City who loses his wife, Gertrude (Jennifer Lopez), in childbirth. To avoid his grief, Trinké buries himself in his work and ignores his new daughter, Gertie, while his father, Bart (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 (Will Smith) in front of the assembled reporters and even lashes out at them. 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. Especially when he says that his interview is on the same day as Gertie's show. Gertie yells at Ollie, saying she hates him and that she wishes he died instead of her mom. Ollie says that he hates her and her mother just as much for ruining his life before he knows what he's saying. Ollie desperately tries to apologize immediately after saying that, but Gertie pushes him away and runs into her room, crying. Ollie tries to clear his head by visiting his wife's grave, but it makes him even more sad. He and Gertie apologize to each other, and Gertie accepts the fact that they're moving. 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 chose the musical number, which, as it turned out, was the only one not to be "Memory" from Cats). The film ends with Ollie, Gertie, Bart, Maya and the rest celebrating at the bar. Ollie hugs Maya, but they are interrupted by Gertie who asks Maya if she can have her dad now. Maya lets her. Ollie picks up Gertie and she asks if they're staying with Pop. Ollie says that they are and that he didn't take the job. Gertie asks if he'll take her to see Cats and he says no. Gertie then asks why he didn't take the job if he loved it so much. Ollie says that he thought he loved it, but he loved his new life more because being a father to Gertie was the only thing that he was really good at.
[edit] 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 profit from video and DVD sales.[citation needed]
The film was nominated for three Razzie Awards. Worst Actor for Ben Affleck, Worst Supporting Actress for Jennifer Lopez, and according to the press release, "Ben Affleck & EITHER Jennifer Lopez OR Liv Tyler" for Worst On-Screen Couple.
Smith has blamed at least part of the film's reception on public perceptions of the Lopez-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" [1], a remark satirized by the webcomic Penny Arcade in one of their most popular strips [2].
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.
Smith's reaction to Jersey Girl after its failure has been mixed. During the ending credits of Clerks II, Smith references the film, thanking it for its existence despite being disliked by critics. "to Jersey Girl for taking it so hard in the ass and never complaining." When asked recently why he kept all his Jersey Girl posters hung up in his bathroom, he replied "Flick went in the shitter, so the posters followed suit." [3] In a recent interview, he summed up his feelings on the film by saying "I think Jersey Girl was just one of those flicks that was the wrong time, the wrong guy, the wrong everything. But I still love it." [4]
[edit] Cast
- Ben Affleck as Ollie Trinké
- Jennifer Lopez as Gertrude Steiney
- Liv Tyler as Maya
- Raquel Castro as Gertie Trinké
- George Carlin as Bart Trinké
- Stephen Root as Greenie
- Jason Biggs as Arthur Brickman
- Will Smith as Himself
- Jason Lee as PR Exec. 1
- Matt Damon as PR Exec. 2
[edit] The Extended Cut
An extended cut was shown at Kevin Smith's private film festival Vulgarthon in 2005 (and was shown again at the 2006 festival) and was met with a lot of praise, even from people who weren't fans of the original cut.[citation needed] Cut scenes that featured in the extended version included a much longer extension of the Jennifer Lopez 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 October 2006, no announcement has been made. In a recent interview, Smith said that the company has very little interest to put out the DVD, but saying they'll release it in a few years.
[edit] Soundtrack
The song High performed by The Cure appears in the foreground for the length of scene where Ben Affleck's character races back to New Jersey to participate in his daughter's performance.
[edit] Trivia
- 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. However, he has since referred to Zsigmond as "an ornery old cuss who made the crew miserable" and said that he would rather stay in his "comfort zone" with those whom he chooses to work with. [5]
- 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."
- It is Smith's first PG-13 rated film. It was originally given an R-rating due to the dialogue with Ollie and Maya in the diner, but this rating was appealed.
- Smith has repeatedly denied rumours that he re-shot scenes or cut Jennifer Lopez's part into a cameo for fear of a public backlash due to the poor box office reception of Gigli. [6][7]
- Smith references this film during his cameo appearance in Degrassi: The Next Generation. He jokingly tells Paige, who he cut out of his fictional movie, that he wanted to cut out everything in Jersey Girl.
- Jersey Girl is the only Kevin Smith film that does not feature Jay and Silent Bob. (This is due to the fact they are staple characters of the View Askewniverse, in which "Jersey Girl" is the only of Smith's films not to be set.) However, computer representations of them appear in the View Askew production logo.
- In the original draft of the script, it was actually Bruce Willis rather than Will Smith who was the cause of (and eventual resolution to) Ollie's problems.
- Jason Mewes, the actor who played Jay in the View Askewniverse films, would have had a non-Jay part in the film. However, Mewes at the time had a bench warrant for his arrest in New Jersey for missing a mandatory court appearance on a possession charge. [8]
- Ben Affleck received $10 million for his role, while Jennifer Lopez received $4 million, for only a few minutes screentime. [9]
- This is the second movie in which Ben Affleck and Liv Tyler were intimate, the first being the 1998 film Armageddon.
[edit] External links
- Jersey Girl at the Internet Movie Database
- Box Office Mojo statistics on Jersey Girl
- Jersey Girl at Rotten Tomatoes
- Radio Interview with Kevin Smith from FBi 94.5 Sydney Australia
| Kevin Smith |
|---|
| Films |
| The View Askewniverse: Clerks | Mallrats | Chasing Amy | Dogma | Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back | Clerks II Other: Jersey Girl | An Evening with Kevin Smith | An Evening With Kevin Smith 2: Evening Harder Upcoming: Red State | Untitled non-Askewniverse comedy | Clerks: Sell Out Abandoned: The Green Hornet | Superman Lives | Fletch Won |
| Comics |
| Clerks | Walt Flanagan's Dog | Chasing Dogma | Bluntman and Chronic | Spider-Man/Black Cat: The Evil that Men Do | Daredevil/Bullseye: The Target |
| Notable characters |
| Jay and Silent Bob | Dante | Randal | Banky | Alyssa | Leonardo | Bluntman and Chronic | Mooby | Buddy Christ | Brodie | Willam | Minor characters |
| Miscellaneous |
| View Askew Productions | View Askewniverse motifs | View Askew Media | The Flying Car | Clerks: The Animated Series | Clerks: The Lost Scene | Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash | Silent Bob Speaks | Sucks Less With Kevin Smith | My Name Is Earl |
