After the death of his wife and losing his job, Ollie Trinke (Affleck) has to raise his daughter (Raquel Castro) with his father (George Carlin) in New Jersey.

CRITIQUE

Now, if you don’t know (and shame on you for not), Kevin Smith is well known as the guy who does those foul-mouthed movies starring those two stoners Jay and Silent Bob. If you haven’t seen these movies, Jersey Girl will not seem like anything special. It’s a story of a guy who learns what it means to be a good father as well as a good person. Nothing special, right? If you have seen the other films, the first thing that pops into your mind is, “What the hell happened to Smith? He made a total sappy drama.” And both sides are right. Jersey Girl is a sappy drama that doesn’t really bring much to the table that other dramas haven’t already. However, it is a Kevin Smith film, and for that reason alone it is worth watching. 

I don’t mean the previous statement in a fan boy sort of way. I enjoy Smith’s films and would definitely call myself a fan. However, Jersey Girl is a step in a new direction for Smith. After the mayhem that was Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (I enjoyed the film, but too often it bounced from being funny to completely pointless) it’s nice to see that Smith has something this sweet inside of him. Jersey Girl is a film that captures the heart and holds it tight throughout.

Ollie Trinke is quite possibly Affleck’s best performance to date. The grief that we see when his wife dies is real and grounds the film in a reality that has never existed in any of Smith’s previous films. George Carlin is fantastic as Ollie’s father, a man who treasures family above all, he also has a very touching moment at the end of the film. Liv Tyler is a lot of fun as the sex-obsessed Maya. The real star of the film, however, is newcomer Raquel Castro. She is a sweet girl and she is excellent in her role of Gertie. Smith’s characters are realistic and are fully realized through their performances. 

There is honestly nothing wrong with the film aside from it being nothing special. Smith’s dialogue is snappy, but lacks many of the things that made him famous, such as raunchy sex dialogue and drug humor. The film is just a remarkable sweet little movie, which sadly fell under the shadow of the box office failure of Gigli as well as being marketed as a comedy, which it really isn’t. Those who hate Kevin Smith movies will enjoy it because Smith has moved on from his usual “dick and fart joke” mode while fans of Smith will enjoy the dialogue and unique characters.

THE VIDEO

The video is just a standard transfer. There is no enhancement of image, or is there any noticeable muting of image. It looks really nice.

THE AUDIO

The film is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround, which sounds really good. The mix works wonderfully. Nothing special or noteworthy with the presentation, it’s a standard sound mix.

THE EXTRAS

Commentary with Kevin Smith and Ben Affleck: Kevin Smith and Ben Affleck joke around and make fun of each other for an hour and 42 minutes while saying a word or two about the film. A worthless commentary track.

Commentary with Kevin Smith, Scott Mosier, and special guest Jason Mews: Like the above commentary except with Mosier and Mews, although a little more info is given in this track. Still worthless though.

Interview with Kevin Smith and Ben Affleck: Smith and Affleck talk about making the film and their history together. Not a bad little interview.

The Tonight Show’s “Roadside Attractions:” Travelogue shorts starring Kevin Smith as he finds out of the way places to visit around New York, Seattle, and Florida. This has some fun moments, but doesn’t really rise above humor-wise.

Behind the scenes of Jersey Girl: The standard making of featurette. The cast talks about how fun it is to work with each other and such.

Text Interviews with cast and crew: Nice little interviews with the cast and crew, although, depending on the type of TV you have, this can be frustrating, annoying, taxing, boring, or all of the above.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Jersey Girl is a wonderful and sweet film that didn’t quite make it at the box office, but will hopefully find its audience on DVD. The extras however, aren’t really worth your time. Lame “commentaries,” no deleted scenes, and aggravating text interviews bring down the viewing experience. However, there is talk of an extended cut of Jersey Girl which will include the deleted footage that is mentioned quite a bit on the commentary tracks. Maybe that release will be a little better than this release. This, sadly, is a rental only disc.