feeling listless

Film Ok, lets begin. Kevin Smith's new film Jersey Girl has been publicized as his grown up film, his attempt at creating something which will attract a stronger mainstream audience whilst still retaining some of the sensibilities of his previous film. A sort of Chasing Amy with less swearing and substituting gender politics with the themes of fatherhood and much less swearing and in an even bigger departure NOT set in the world of Jay and Silent Bob, the View Askewniverse. A decent parallel would be that if he was Woody Allen, this would be his Annie Hall, a break from the earlier funny ones. As such it's had a wildly contradictory critical reaction and its not hard to see why.

So lets get the negatives out of the way first. This isn't the most original film ever made. In here you'll recognize elements of Jerry Maguire, About A Boy, Jack and Sarah and Bounce and a fair few tv movies. It's the closest Smith is going to get to making a Richard Curtis style Working Title film. But these are genre issues - watching Farscape you can hardly complain that you've seen space ships before. Also, without being too spoilery, the presence of Jennifer Lopez at the start of the film does weigh the thing down somewhat, perhaps, like the child it might have been nicer if we could imagine about her mother. And although the new CG View Askew logo at the start is lovely, it does rather reminds the viewer of who's going to be missing from the film.

But those are the only criticisms, because my god this is a great film. In all the right places, its funny, touching and exciting. It's difficult to talk about the plot because unlike other examples of the genre you aren't always sure what's going to happen next and that's partly because of the convincing work done by the actors. Ben Affleck's character, the same kind of fractured personality which he played Changing Lanes could go either way and does say some extraordinarily nasty things at times so you aren't sure if certain plot points will be played out. His leading lady, his character's daughter, Raquel Castro is real find -- like few child actors before her she can actually carry a scene all by herself even at her tender age. But that could be said of everyone in here. George Carlin is sweet as Affleck's father and Jason Biggs proves he can play sidekick just as well as the lead. Just like Elijah Wood in Eternal Sunshine ..., it's quite a shock to see Liv Tyler without her Elvin robes and ears as she demonstrates the abilities in light comedy which made Empire Records such a treat all those years ago.* There is also a great little performance from someone turning up for a cameo. I won't tell you who it is, but it rather reminds you that he was a serious actor once.

But what of Kevin Smith's work? It certainly feels more like a mainstream film than any of his previous efforts. This is obviously due in part to the hiring of the experienced Vilmos Zsigmond as his cinematographer this time, who gives the scenes a depth we haven't really seen before (not everything is done in a oner. Look see - actual coverage - cutting between people when they're talking!). But what stuns me is that it still feels like a Kevin Smith film. At times when he could have toned down his distinctive dialogue, he simply doesn't, leading to some wonderful riffs which you simply wouldn't find elsewhere. And don't believe the hype the pop culture references are still in attendance, just toned down here so that they aren't the point of the scene. Now that Kevin has passed on The Green Hornet because he said he never got into the business to make action films, if this is the kind of film he's going to be turning out, I'd be perfectly happy. This isn't a 'monumental achievement' but it'll make you laugh and cry in equal measure and sometimes that's all you need from a film.

* She obviously has a sense of humour too - either that or she hasn't seen the second episode of the Clerks Cartoon when Randall and Dante are locked in a freezer which features the following dialogue....
Randall: If you were Steve Tyler from Aerosmith and you could have any woman in the world, who would it me?
Dante (passionately): Caitlin...
Randall: See I'd choose Liv Tyler ...