Reviewed by FRANCESCA RUDKIN
(Herald rating: * *)
After the disaster that was Gigli, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez are briefly reunited. This time Affleck is Ollie, record company promotions guy, and widowed father of one. While he looks the part and it's a more challenging role, Affleck fails to convince.
Ollie marries his sweetheart (Lopez) but before we have time to consider the box office consequence of Lopez and Affleck in another film together, director Smith kills J.Lo off with an aneurysm - just after giving birth to their daughter.
Living the fast-paced life as a music promoter in NY, Affleck has no idea what to do with the child, and in a pressured moment during a press conference he tells the media what he really thinks of them, becomes a legend in his own lunchtime and is fired.
Returning to Jersey as a streetsweeper he spends the next seven years raising his daughter and rediscovering what family and community is all about. But the hunger for the big time in NY doesn't go away. Although he is the laughing stock of the music industry he strives to make it back to where he feels he belongs.
When the opportunity for another interview arises, Ollie skips out on his daughter's musical performance (which is quite bizarre in its own right) and heads to New York. Affleck is full of monologues and tears at the beginning of this film, but as his performance progresses you realise that you've developed no empathy with his character, instead you start thinking he's a fool.
Though this is supposed to be a film about returning to your working class roots, and a celebration of New Jersey, it's a movie of extremes that just doesn't ring true. Smith might be admired for his cult slacker films such as Clerks, and Chasing Amy, but this is a disappointment. At least the director can tick "nice, sentimental, mainstream Hollywood flick" off his list of things to do. And as for Affleck ... nice try Ben, but not good enough.
CAST: Ben Affleck, Liv Tyler, Jennifer Lopez, Jason Biggs
DIRECTOR: Kevin Smith
RUNNING TIME:103 mins
RATING: M (offensive language, sexual references)
SCREENING: Village, Hoyts, Berkely cinemas from Thursday
Jersey Girl
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