Kevin Smith's Jersey Girl

[MacGuffin]

Stop this now.

[Gold Trumpet]

Kevin Smith's best days are behind him. He's becoming a more commercial filmmaker and letting the best part of his writing take a back seat. His ID in writing was matching his brand of humor to reveal the characters. With Chasing Amy, he showed the limitations of men who displayed their personality with crude humor. He didn't circle the drama, but delved into the world of these men and allowed for their crude humor to encompass the story, making it an organically whole film. With Jersey Girl, his first serious film since Chasing Amy, his humor and wit stays on the sidelines. It just pushes along a conventional story to keep a few laughs going so general audience will easily react at least some of the film if they don't love it all. Some of the one liners are really good, but it doesn't result in much of a film.

[modage]

i kind of agree with your review but dont you think its possible kevin smiths best days could still be IN FRONT of him?  like, he hasnt quite figured out how to balance his humor with a real story for a really great movie yet, but dont you think he might figure it out?  he seems to be taking steps towards it, who knows he might get there, huh?

[Banky]

there you go modernage

[Gold Trumpet]

i kind of agree with your review but dont you think its possible kevin smiths best days could still be IN FRONT of him?  like, he hasnt quite figured out how to balance his humor with a real story for a really great movie yet, but dont you think he might figure it out?  he seems to be taking steps towards it, who knows he might get there, huh?

Hah, he might. But, he's doing The Green Hornet next so it'll have to wait. Oh, and I hear he's doing a Fletch movie after that, so again, wait. I then heard he wants to do yet another Jay and Silent Bob film so again, wait. His career hardly seems a progress to me. Mainly, he writes comedies that at best have a unique flair to them and and his fluke, Chasing Amy, was a great film.

[SHAFTR]

Kevin Smith's best days are behind him. He's becoming a more commercial filmmaker and letting the best part of his writing take a back seat. His ID in writing was matching his brand of humor to reveal the characters. With Chasing Amy, he showed the limitations of men who displayed their personality with crude humor. He didn't circle the drama, but delved into the world of these men and allowed for their crude humor to encompass the story, making it an organically whole film. With Jersey Girl, his first serious film since Chasing Amy, his humor and wit stays on the sidelines. It just pushes along a conventional story to keep a few laughs going so general audience will easily react at least some of the film if they don't love it all. Some of the one liners are really good, but it doesn't result in much of a film.

would you agree that Dogma is a serious film?
would you also agree that the only indie (non commercial) film he ever did was Clerks?

[Stefen]

Chasing Amy was indie. It had miramax prints on it I think, but it was still indie as far as im concerned.

[Banky]

I dont think Amy was a independent.  Mirimax directly funded that movie from the very begining.

[ElPandaRoyal]

I dont think Amy was a independent.  Mirimax directly funded that movie from the very begining.

Yeah, but with a $250,000 budget, we have to call it indie, I think... Personally, I don't think that even the Miramax logo can put the "indieness" of the film in question  8)

[Raikus]

Alright, first off I really enjoyed this movie. More than I actually thought I would. I'm a Smith fan, sure, but this was so distanced from his typical MO that I thought it would play as a movie with a spoonful of Smith in it.

I think I have nailed down what others have said about liking this movie but not really knowing why--it's the film's sincerity. This movie wasn't Smith Lite, it was a complete reworking of his style because, forgive me, he finally had something personal to say. So it wasn't baseless dialogue and pop culture filler, it was a story--not driven by plot, but evoking the character's emotions and feelings.

99% of the time you could take this same plot and the movie would be complete shite. And I guess, if you have a torch to burn and really don't give the characters a chance to emote to you, the movie might fall into that same percentile. But the movie really worked for me because the characters worked for me. Biggest surprise, beside the newcomer tike, was Tyler's performance. I've always found her too mousy and whiny to be effective but she really bucked up and controlled her performance. Affleck was... likeable (which is getting harder and harder to realize) and for what she was in, Lopez was pretty believable (and I certainly and not one of her fans).

Basically the secret to seeing this movie is to completely throw out that you're going to see a movie by the guy who brought you Clerks and Chasing Amy. Instead, realize you're going to see a movie from the guy who got married, had a child and lost his father. You're seeing a one-piece that's reflective of his new view of life--where dick jokes and homosexual connotations take a back seat to sentimentality with a family focus.

I don't see how people can't get into the characters on the screen, but maybe it's the situations I'm going through in my life that make me more susceptible to the film's focus. There were one to many montages for sure (montages in a Smith movie--now I've seen it all), but like Ghost Boy, what would normally be a very cheesy ending had me smiling throughout.

[Gold Trumpet]

Kevin Smith's best days are behind him. He's becoming a more commercial filmmaker and letting the best part of his writing take a back seat. His ID in writing was matching his brand of humor to reveal the characters. With Chasing Amy, he showed the limitations of men who displayed their personality with crude humor. He didn't circle the drama, but delved into the world of these men and allowed for their crude humor to encompass the story, making it an organically whole film. With Jersey Girl, his first serious film since Chasing Amy, his humor and wit stays on the sidelines. It just pushes along a conventional story to keep a few laughs going so general audience will easily react at least some of the film if they don't love it all. Some of the one liners are really good, but it doesn't result in much of a film.

would you agree that Dogma is a serious film?
would you also agree that the only indie (non commercial) film he ever did was Clerks?

I wouldn't agree Dogma is a serious film. I think it plays off a serious subject, but still very much comedy. I think Clerks is Kevin Smith's only indie film if you looked at production means and costs only. I'd say Chasing Amy had an indie spirit made to it unlike Jersey Girl.

[Fernando]

i kind of agree with your review but dont you think its possible kevin smiths best days could still be IN FRONT of him?  like, he hasnt quite figured out how to balance his humor with a real story for a really great movie yet, but dont you think he might figure it out?  he seems to be taking steps towards it, who knows he might get there, huh?

Hah, he might. But, he's doing The Green Hornet next so it'll have to wait. Oh, and I hear he's doing a Fletch movie after that, so again, wait. I then heard he wants to do yet another Jay and Silent Bob film so again, wait.

Isn't he adapting a children's book after TGH? Maybe Banky can confirm this.

[Raikus]

The only other project I've heard about not mentioned here is "Ranger Danger and the Danger Rangers." There's not much known about it other than  it's sci-fi and the title. What childrens title have you heard about Fernando?

[Banky]

all i have heard is that first off is GH then immediatley after that Fletch Won and those two are set in stone.  Other than that he has mentioned doing another jay and bob flick and doing his take on sci fi wich is Ranger Dangers and the Danger Rangers.  Funny though because there has been a lot of talk doing Jay and Bob in space so maybe the two ideas will be mushed together.

[Fernando]

I could swear read it somewhere (Children's book adaption), but just can't find it, IIRC he said his wife loves that book and she was convincing him to do it, I think he didn't mentioned the name of the book.

I thought it was Joblo's recent int. but he didn't mentioned it, nor the Q&A of his site, I'll try to find it.

Hell, maybe I'm mixing someone else's news with KS.