Jersey Girl (2004 film)

Jersey Girl is a 2004 American comedy-drama film written, co-edited and directed by Kevin Smith. It stars Ben Affleck and Liv Tyler with George Carlin (in his final film appearance), Stephen Root, Mike Starr, Raquel Castro, Jason Biggs and Jennifer Lopez in supporting roles. The film follows a widowed man who must learn how to properly take care of his precocious daughter after her mother dies during childbirth.

It was the first film written and directed by Smith not to be set in the View Askewniverse as well as the first not to feature appearances by Jay and Silent Bob, although animated versions of them appear in the View Askew logo at the beginning of the film and the still version at the end. At $35 million, not including marketing costs, it was then Smith's biggest-budgeted film, and was a box office bomb, grossing just $36 million.

Plot
Oliver "Ollie" Trinké (Affleck) is a young Anglo man who was born and raised in New Jersey. He now lives and works in New York City and is a powerful media publicist. Gertrude Steiney (Lopez) is an attractive young Latina woman. The two meet, fall instantly in love  and get married. They are very happy and after several months together, Gertrude discovers she is pregnant. Ollie is obsessed with his work and doesn't lighten his workload, neglecting Gertrude in favor of his career. On her due date, Gertrde goes into labor and Ollie has to force himself to leave his office to be with his wife in the delivery room. Tragedy strikes, however, when Gertrude dies from complications during childbirth. Their daughter is named Gertie after her late mother.

Ollie is devastated and avoids his feelings of grief by burying himself in his work, spending even longer hours at the office. He denies he feels any grief but spends very little time with his newborn daughter because she reminds him of his late wife and all he lost. His widowed father, Bart (Carlin), steps up to take care of his grand daughter, taking a month off from his job at the Jersey City Sanitation Crew. Bart later decides to return to work to force his son to face both his grief and his responsibilities as a parent.

Things don't go smoothly for Ollie in this new arrangement. Under the stress of a botched diaper change and a baby who will not stop crying, Ollie publicly insults his client Will Smith for starring in Independence Day because he doubts he has the credibility to be an "action star." Because Ollie's outburst occurred in front of a large group of assembled reporters, it cost him his job. This causes more upheaval in his life because he and Gertie not only have to move to New Jersey, they have to live with Bart. There is more fallout and upheaval from Ollie's outburst. He is blacklisted by every NYC public relations firm, forcing him to take a civil service job in the borough where he now lives.

Seven years later, Gertie (Castro), now in elementary school, often begs her dad to rent films to watch. At the video store, they meet Maya (Tyler), a graduate student and one of the store's clerks. Her uninhibited probing into Ollie's love life opens the door for her to become a part of his inner circle.

Another turning point occurs in Ollie's life when his employer schedules a major public works project that will temporarily close a street in the neighborhood. He must speak to a group of outraged citizens and attempt to win their approval. His successful and positive interaction with them makes him realize how much he misses public relations. Seeking a change, he contacts Arthur Brickman, his one-time protégé, who sets up a promising interview in New York City.

The prospect of moving back to New York creates tension between Ollie, Gertie, Bart, and Maya, especially when they learn his interview is on the same day as Gertie's school talent show. During one of many arguments, Ollie tells Gertie they're moving back to New York whether she likes it or not. Gertie angrily accuses him of putting himself before her - again. She then tells her father she hates him and wishes he had died instead of her mother. Enraged, Ollie tells Gertie he hates her, too. He says both she and her mother took his life away and that he just wants it back. This shocks everyone. Gertie then breaks down crying and runs to her room. A very disappointed Bart quietly chastises Ollie for what he said. In disgust, Maya ends her friendship with Ollie.

A few days later, father and daughter reconcile, apologizing for their hurtful words, and Gertie accepts that they will be moving to New York. While awaiting his job interview, Ollie has a chance encounter with Will Smith. Smith doesn't remember the past incident with him, but their conversation about work and children convinces Ollie to skip the interview and leave. Before leaving, he refers Smith to Brickman.

Ollie rushes to make it to Gertie's Sweeney Todd performance and arrives at the last moment. Ollie, Gertie, Bart, Maya and their friends then celebrate at a bar. There, he and Maya hint at possible feelings for each other, but are interrupted by Gertie.

Ollie then takes Gertie in his arms and tells her that they are staying in New Jersey because he decided not to take the job. She asks why, if he loved New York so much. He explains that he thought he did, but he actually loves his new life in New Jersey more. He tells Gertie that being a father to her was the only thing he was ever really good at.

Production
The film's budget included $10 million for Affleck and $4 million for Lopez. In the original draft of the script, Bruce Willis rather than Will Smith was the cause of (and eventual resolution to) Ollie's problems. Smith wrote the first fifty pages of the script with Bill Murray and Joey Lauren Adams in mind. The film was primarily shot in Highlands, New Jersey. Academy Award-winning Vilmos Zsigmond, its director of photography, was said by Smith to have been "an ornery old cuss who made the crew miserable." Paulsboro, New Jersey served as another of the shooting locations; scenes were shot there at its municipal building, Clam Digger Bar, and high school. Cut from it were scenes at Paulsboro's St. John's Church and Little League Field. The scene in the church was to show the marriage between Ollie and Gertie; it was cut shortly after Affleck and Lopez split up in real life and their scenes were reshot, reducing her part due to concern over the poor box-office reception of Gigli.

It is the first major theatrical release to include a joke about the September 11 attacks: when Gertie asks to see Cats, Ollie refuses on the grounds that it is "the second-worst thing to happen to New York City." On the second episode of the podcast "Blow Hard with Malcolm Ingram", Smith tells a story of Malcolm sending him lyrics to "Landslide" by Fleetwood Mac, trying to apologize for an earlier incident. He was so touched by the email that he included the song in the soundtrack.

Jason Mewes, who plays Jay in the View Askewniverse films, was to have a part in the film as "Delivery Guy", but Kevin Smith had temporarily severed ties with him as part of a "tough love" approach to get him to quit using heroin. The role was given to Matthew Maher.

Soundtrack

 * "Everyone's A Kid At Christmas" – Performed by Stevie Wonder
 * "Let's Stay Together" – Performed by Al Green
 * "Parents Just Don't Understand" – Performed by Jeffrey A. Townes (as DJ Jazzy Jeff) and Will Smith (as the Fresh Prince)
 * "That's How I Knew This Story Would Break My Heart" – Written and Performed by Aimee Mann
 * "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" – Performed by George Jones
 * "Worlds They Rise and Fall" – Performed by The Incredible String Band
 * "Johanna" – Written by Stephen Sondheim
 * "Wandering" – Performed by Ben Folds
 * "Landslide" – Performed by Fleetwood Mac
 * "My City of Ruins" – Written and Performed by Bruce Springsteen
 * "High" – Performed by The Cure
 * "Let My Love Open The Door (E.Cola Mix)" – Written and Performed by Pete Townshend
 * "Jersey Girl" – Performed by Bruce Springsteen
 * "God That's Good" – Performed by Ben Affleck, Liv Tyler, Raquel Castro, Stephen Root, and Mike Starr

Release
The film is Smith's first to have received a PG-13 rating, rather than an R. According to interviews with Smith in the documentary This Film Is Not Yet Rated, it was originally given an R, due to the dialogue with Ollie and Maya discussing masturbation in the diner, but the decision was overturned. An extended cut was shown at Kevin Smith's private film festival Vulgarthon in 2005 & 2006. The extended version included much more of the Jennifer Lopez section, Ben Affleck's full speech at city hall, a longer ending, and some music changes. On the film's audio commentary, Smith stated that a longer version would be released within the next year. At a Q&A session in Vancouver in early 2009, Smith said that a release of the extended cut on DVD and Blu-ray Disc is "very possible". It has not been released as of 2020.

Box office
The film grossed $25.2 million in North America, and $10.8 million internationally, for a total gross of $36.1 million, against a $35 million budget.

Critical reception
Jersey Girl received mixed reviews from critics. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 43% based on 177 reviews, with an average rating of 5.30/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "A surprisingly conventional romantic comedy from Kevin Smith, Jersey Girl is warm but often overly sentimental". On Metacritic, the film has a score of 43 out of 100, based on 35 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Smith was quoted saying his film was "not for critics". Smith's reaction to Jersey Girl after its failure was dour. He referenced the film during his cameo appearance in Degrassi: The Next Generation, jokingly telling Paige Michalchuk, whom his character had cut out of his fictional film Jay and Silent Bob Go Canadian, Eh!, that he cut Lopez out of most of Jersey Girl and wanted to cut Affleck out too, "but then it just would have been that little kid." In an interview on the Clerks II DVD, Smith noted "All these people were just trashing this movie's stars instead of looking at the movie itself. I get that a lot of people didn't like it but dude, I spent two years of my life on that movie."

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 and either Jennifer Lopez or Liv Tyler" for Worst On-Screen Couple. 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, but lost to Christmas with the Kranks.