Jersey Girl (2004 film)
Encyclopedia
Jersey Girl is a 2004 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Kevin Smith
Kevin Smith
Kevin Patrick Smith is an American screenwriter, actor, film producer, and director, as well as a popular comic book writer, author, comedian/raconteur, and internet radio personality best recognized by viewers as Silent Bob...

. It stars Ben Affleck
Ben Affleck
Benjamin Géza Affleck-Boldt , better known as Ben Affleck, is an American actor, film director, writer, and producer. He became known with his performances in Kevin Smith's films such as Mallrats and Chasing Amy...

, Liv Tyler
Liv Tyler
Liv Rundgren Tyler is an American actress and model. She is the daughter of Aerosmith's lead singer, Steven Tyler, and Bebe Buell, model and singer. Tyler began a career in modeling at the age of 14, but after less than a year she decided to focus on acting. She made her film debut in the 1994...

, Raquel Castro
Raquel Castro
Raquel Castro is an American teen actress and singer. She is best known for her role in the 2004 film Jersey Girl as Gertie Trinké, the daughter of Ollie Trinké and Gertrude Steiney , the role for which Castro won the Young Artist Award for the Best Performance in a Feature Film - Young Actress...

, George Carlin
George Carlin
George Denis Patrick Carlin was an American stand-up comedian, social critic, actor and author, who won five Grammy Awards for his comedy albums....

, Jason Biggs
Jason Biggs
Jason Matthew Biggs is an American actor who is best known for his role as Jim Levenstein in the American Pie series of teen comedy films.-Personal life:...

, Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lynn Lopez is an American actress, singer, record producer, dancer, television personality, and fashion designer. Lopez began her career as a dancer on the television comedy program In Living Color. Subsequently venturing into acting, she gained recognition in the 1995 action-thriller...

 and Will Smith
Will Smith
Willard Christopher "Will" Smith, Jr. , also known by his stage name The Fresh Prince, is an American actor, producer, and rapper. He has enjoyed success in television, film and music. In April 2007, Newsweek called him the most powerful actor in Hollywood...

. At $35 million it was Smith's biggest-budget project to date ($10 million of which was Ben Affleck's salary, $4 million to Jennifer Lopez's salary), but was a financial disappointment at the box office and received poor reviews. It is also the first film by Smith not to be set in the View Askewniverse
View Askewniverse
The View Askewniverse is a fictional universe created by writer/director Kevin Smith, featured in several films, comics and a television series; it is named for Smith's production company, View Askew Productions. The characters Jay and Silent Bob appear in almost all the View Askewniverse media,...

 or to feature appearances by Jay and Silent Bob
Jay and Silent Bob
Jay and Silent Bob are fictional characters portrayed by Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith, respectively, in Kevin Smith's View Askewniverse, a fictional universe created and used in most films, comics and television by Smith, which began in Clerks....

.

Plot

Oliver "Ollie" Trinké (Ben Affleck
Ben Affleck
Benjamin Géza Affleck-Boldt , better known as Ben Affleck, is an American actor, film director, writer, and producer. He became known with his performances in Kevin Smith's films such as Mallrats and Chasing Amy...

) is a powerful media
Mass media
Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...

 publicist
Public relations
Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....

 in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 who tragically loses his wife, Gertrude (Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lynn Lopez is an American actress, singer, record producer, dancer, television personality, and fashion designer. Lopez began her career as a dancer on the television comedy program In Living Color. Subsequently venturing into acting, she gained recognition in the 1995 action-thriller...

), in childbirth. To avoid his grief, he buries himself in his work and ignores his new daughter, Gertie, while his father, Bart (George Carlin
George Carlin
George Denis Patrick Carlin was an American stand-up comedian, social critic, actor and author, who won five Grammy Awards for his comedy albums....

), takes 30 sick days in a row to care for her. Hoping to get him to live up to his responsibility as a parent, Bart suddenly returns to work one day, leaving him to deal with Gertie. Under the stress of a botched diaper change and a baby who will not stop crying, he trashes his client (Will Smith
Will Smith
Willard Christopher "Will" Smith, Jr. , also known by his stage name The Fresh Prince, is an American actor, producer, and rapper. He has enjoyed success in television, film and music. In April 2007, Newsweek called him the most powerful actor in Hollywood...

, for his soon-to-be released film Independence Day
Independence Day (film)
Independence Day is a 1996 science fiction film about an alien invasion of Earth, focusing on a disparate group of individuals and families as they converge in the Nevada desert and, along with the rest of the human population, participate in a last-chance counterattack on July 4 – the same...

) in front of the assembled reporters and even lashes out at them. The public outburst costs him his job and he moves in with his father in New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

. He is humbled by the experience and finally looks upon Gertie with approval and conviction, saying he is sorry for ignoring her, he just misses Gertrude and did not expect her to leave so suddenly. He promises to be the best dad he can.

Now blacklisted by all the New York public relations firms, Ollie tries unsuccessfully for years to get work as a publicist, whilst also working as a civil servant in the borough
Borough
A borough is an administrative division in various countries. In principle, the term borough designates a self-governing township although, in practice, official use of the term varies widely....

 where he now lives to get by. Gertie (Raquel Castro
Raquel Castro
Raquel Castro is an American teen actress and singer. She is best known for her role in the 2004 film Jersey Girl as Gertie Trinké, the daughter of Ollie Trinké and Gertrude Steiney , the role for which Castro won the Young Artist Award for the Best Performance in a Feature Film - Young Actress...

), now in elementary school, often coaxes him to rent films to watch. At the video store, they meet Maya (Liv Tyler
Liv Tyler
Liv Rundgren Tyler is an American actress and model. She is the daughter of Aerosmith's lead singer, Steven Tyler, and Bebe Buell, model and singer. Tyler began a career in modeling at the age of 14, but after less than a year she decided to focus on acting. She made her film debut in the 1994...

), one of the store's clerks, whose uninhibited probing into Ollie's love life almost leads to them having casual sex. She soon becomes a good friend and part of their lives.

As part of his job in the borough, Ollie speaks to a group of outraged citizens to win over their approval for a major public works project that will temporarily close a street in the neighborhood. His successful and enjoyable interaction with the crowd leads him to realize how much he misses the public relations work. He contacts Arthur (Jason Biggs
Jason Biggs
Jason Matthew Biggs is an American actor who is best known for his role as Jim Levenstein in the American Pie series of teen comedy films.-Personal life:...

), his one-time protégé, who sets up a promising interview.

The real prospect of moving to New York creates tension between Ollie, Gertie, Bart, and Maya, especially when he says that his interview is on the same day as Gertie's school talent show. She yells at him, saying she hates him and that she wishes he had died instead of her mom. He claims he hates her right back, and says she and Gertrude took his life away and he just wants it back. He immediately regrets it and tries to apologize, but the damage is done and she pushes him away and runs to her room, crying. He tries to clear his head by visiting Gertrude's grave, but it saddens him even more. A few days later he and Gertie apologize to each other, and she accepts the fact that they will be moving to New York. While waiting to be interviewed, he has a chance encounter with Will Smith (playing himself), the very man he trashed at his public outburst years before. He has no idea who Ollie is, but their conversation about work and children makes him decide to sacrifice the former for the latter.

Ollie is able to make it to Gertie's Sweeney Todd
Sweeney Todd (musical)
Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street is a 1979 musical thriller with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and libretto by Hugh Wheeler. The musical is based on the 1973 play Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street by Christopher Bond....

performance at the last second. The film ends with him, Gertie, Bart, Maya, and the rest celebrating at the bar. He and Maya hint at possible feelings for each other before being interrupted by Gertie. He holds her and says that they are staying in New Jersey because he did not take the job. She asks why he did so if he loved it so much. He says that he thought he did, but he loved his new life more because being a father to her was the only thing that he was ever really good at.

Cast

  • Ben Affleck
    Ben Affleck
    Benjamin Géza Affleck-Boldt , better known as Ben Affleck, is an American actor, film director, writer, and producer. He became known with his performances in Kevin Smith's films such as Mallrats and Chasing Amy...

     as Oliver "Ollie" Trinké
  • Liv Tyler
    Liv Tyler
    Liv Rundgren Tyler is an American actress and model. She is the daughter of Aerosmith's lead singer, Steven Tyler, and Bebe Buell, model and singer. Tyler began a career in modeling at the age of 14, but after less than a year she decided to focus on acting. She made her film debut in the 1994...

     as Maya
  • Raquel Castro
    Raquel Castro
    Raquel Castro is an American teen actress and singer. She is best known for her role in the 2004 film Jersey Girl as Gertie Trinké, the daughter of Ollie Trinké and Gertrude Steiney , the role for which Castro won the Young Artist Award for the Best Performance in a Feature Film - Young Actress...

     as Gertie Trinké
  • George Carlin
    George Carlin
    George Denis Patrick Carlin was an American stand-up comedian, social critic, actor and author, who won five Grammy Awards for his comedy albums....

     as Bart Trinké
  • Jennifer Lopez
    Jennifer Lopez
    Jennifer Lynn Lopez is an American actress, singer, record producer, dancer, television personality, and fashion designer. Lopez began her career as a dancer on the television comedy program In Living Color. Subsequently venturing into acting, she gained recognition in the 1995 action-thriller...

     as Gertrude Steiney
  • Stephen Root
    Stephen Root
    Stephen Root is an American actor. He is best known for his comedic work on the TV sitcom NewsRadio, in the film Office Space and as the voice of Bill Dauterive and Buck Strickland in the animated series King of the Hill...

     as Greenie
  • Mike Starr
    Mike Starr (actor)
    Michael "Mike" Starr is an American actor. Starr is notable for his large size, standing 6 ft 3 1/2 in , and has typically been typecast as thugs or henchmen....

     as Block
  • Jason Biggs
    Jason Biggs
    Jason Matthew Biggs is an American actor who is best known for his role as Jim Levenstein in the American Pie series of teen comedy films.-Personal life:...

     as Arthur Brickman
  • Will Smith
    Will Smith
    Willard Christopher "Will" Smith, Jr. , also known by his stage name The Fresh Prince, is an American actor, producer, and rapper. He has enjoyed success in television, film and music. In April 2007, Newsweek called him the most powerful actor in Hollywood...

     as Himself (uncredited)
  • Jason Lee as PR Exec. 1
  • Matt Damon
    Matt Damon
    Matthew Paige "Matt" Damon is an American actor, screenwriter, and philanthropist whose career was launched following the success of the film Good Will Hunting , from a screenplay he co-wrote with friend Ben Affleck...

     as PR Exec. 2
  • Paulie Litt as Bryan (as Paulie Litowsky)
  • Harley Quinn Smith as Trace Colelli (uncredited)


Jersey Girl was the first Kevin Smith
Kevin Smith
Kevin Patrick Smith is an American screenwriter, actor, film producer, and director, as well as a popular comic book writer, author, comedian/raconteur, and internet radio personality best recognized by viewers as Silent Bob...

 film that did not feature Jay and Silent Bob
Jay and Silent Bob
Jay and Silent Bob are fictional characters portrayed by Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith, respectively, in Kevin Smith's View Askewniverse, a fictional universe created and used in most films, comics and television by Smith, which began in Clerks....

. Jason Mewes
Jason Mewes
Jason Edward Mewes is an American television, film actor, and internet radio show host best known for playing Jay, the vocal half of the duo Jay and Silent Bob, in longtime friend Kevin Smith's films.-Early life:...

, the actor who played Jay in the View Askewniverse
View Askewniverse
The View Askewniverse is a fictional universe created by writer/director Kevin Smith, featured in several films, comics and a television series; it is named for Smith's production company, View Askew Productions. The characters Jay and Silent Bob appear in almost all the View Askewniverse media,...

 films, was scheduled to have a non-Jay part in the film as Ollie's assistant Arthur, but Kevin Smith
Kevin Smith
Kevin Patrick Smith is an American screenwriter, actor, film producer, and director, as well as a popular comic book writer, author, comedian/raconteur, and internet radio personality best recognized by viewers as Silent Bob...

 had temporarily severed ties with him as part of a "tough love" approach to get him to quit drugs. At the time, Mewes also had a bench warrant for his arrest in New Jersey for missing a mandatory court appearance on a possession charge.

Betty Aberlin
Betty Aberlin
Betty Aberlin is an American actress, poet, and writer.Born as Betty Kay Ageloff in New York City, Aberlin had a regular role on The Smothers Brothers Show. She worked on various TV spots, and played Lady Aberlin on Mister Rogers' Neighborhood...

, best known to generations as Lady Aberlin of Mr. Rogers Neighborhood’s Neighborhood of Make-Believe
Neighborhood of Make-Believe
The Neighborhood of Make-Believe is the fictional kingdom inhabited by the hand puppet characters on the children's television program Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, produced from 1968 to 2001...

, portrays Gertie's teacher, a nun
Nun
A nun is a woman who has taken vows committing her to live a spiritual life. She may be an ascetic who voluntarily chooses to leave mainstream society and live her life in prayer and contemplation in a monastery or convent...

. She previously portrayed an unnamed nun in Smith's Dogma.

In the original draft of the script, Bruce Willis
Bruce Willis
Walter Bruce Willis , better known as Bruce Willis, is an American actor, producer, and musician. His career began in television in the 1980s and has continued both in television and film since, including comedic, dramatic, and action roles...

 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
Bill Murray
William James "Bill" Murray is an American actor and comedian. He first gained national exposure on Saturday Night Live in which he earned an Emmy Award and later went on to star in a number of critically and commercially successful comedic films, including Caddyshack , Ghostbusters , and...

 and Joey Lauren Adams
Joey Lauren Adams
Joey Lauren Adams is an American actress who has appeared in more than thirty films. She is known for her distinctive, raspy voice and for her roles in View Askewniverse films, particularly Mallrats and Chasing Amy, with the latter giving her a Golden Globe for Best Actress nomination.-Career:She...

 in mind.

The film is Affleck's and Tyler's second film together and which both characters develop a romantic relationship. Their first film together was Armageddon.

Production

Smith, who is often criticized for the look of his films, was initially excited to have Academy Award
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...

-winning Vilmos Zsigmond
Vilmos Zsigmond
Vilmos Zsigmond, A.S.C. is a Hungarian-American cinematographer.In 2003, a survey conducted by the International Cinematographers Guild placed Zsigmond among the ten most influential cinematographers in history.-Biography:...

 as the film's director of photography. However, he has since referred to Zsigmond as "an ornery old cuss who made the crew miserable" and said that he would rather stay in his "comfort zone" with those with whom he chooses to work.

The film was primarily shot in Highlands, New Jersey
Highlands, New Jersey
Highlands is a borough in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 5,005. It is the home town of film maker, director, and comic book writer Kevin Smith. The eastern part of the town is built on a high bluff that overlooks Sandy...

.

Paulsboro, New Jersey
Paulsboro, New Jersey
Paulsboro is a Borough in Gloucester County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 6,097....

, which served as one of the shooting locations of the film, thanked Smith for his contribution to the town by renaming a street near its high school
Paulsboro High School
Paulsboro High School is a comprehensive community six-year public high school that serves students in seventh through twelfth grade from Paulsboro, in Gloucester County, New Jersey, United States, as part of the Paulsboro Public Schools....

 "Kevin Smith Way." Scenes that were shot there include those in its Municipal Building, Clam Digger Bar, and High School. Other scenes, that were cut of the film, included scenes in Paulsboro's St. John's Church and Little League Field. The scene in the church was supposed to show the marriage between Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck's characters. However, it was cut out of the film shortly after the split between them and scenes reshot, cutting her part into a cameo, for fear of a public backlash over the poor box office reception of Gigli
Gigli
Gigli is a 2003 romantic comedy film written and directed by Martin Brest and starring Ben Affleck, Jennifer Lopez, Al Pacino, Christopher Walken, and Lainie Kazan....

.

Release

It is Smith's first (and to date only) PG-13 rated film. It was originally given an R rating by the MPAA
Motion Picture Association of America
The Motion Picture Association of America, Inc. , originally the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America , was founded in 1922 and is designed to advance the business interests of its members...

 due to the dialogue with Ollie and Maya discussing masturbation in the diner, but this rating was appealed and overturned.

An extended cut was shown at Kevin Smith's private film festival Vulgarthon in 2005 (and was shown again at the 2006 festival). Cut scenes that featured in the extended version included a much longer extension of the Jennifer Lopez section of the film that fleshed out the characters more, Ben Affleck's full speech in the city hall, a longer ending, and some music changes.

On the film's audio commentary, Smith stated that a longer version of the film would be released within the next year. As of September 2007, no announcement has been made. In a recent interview, Smith said that the company has now very little interest to put out the DVD, but saying they'll probably release it in a few years. At a Q&A session in Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...

 in early 2009, it was revealed that a release of the extended cut on DVD and Blu-ray Disc is "very possible".

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 this song in the film's soundtrack

Reception

The film "bombed" at the box office
Box office
A box office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through an unblocked hole through a wall or window, or at a wicket....

, making only $25.2 million domestic and $10.6 million overseas against a $35 million dollar budget and a $15 million dollar marketing campaign.

Critical response was mixed, with some critics panning it as formulaic, though some critics (including Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...

) commended Kevin Smith for trying different things in his film career. Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...

 review aggregator yielded a verdict of rotten, with only 41% of critics giving positive reviews, summarizing the consensus as, "Full of cloyingly sentimental cliches." In response to negative reviews following the film's release, Kevin Smith was quoted saying his film was "not for critics".

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 & EITHER Jennifer Lopez OR Liv Tyler" for Worst On-Screen Couple. Raquel Castro won a Young Artist Award
Young Artist Award
The Young Artist Award is an accolade bestowed by the Young Artist Foundation, a non-profit organization founded in 1978 to recognize and award excellence of youth performers, and to provide scholarships for young artists who may be physically and/or financially challenged.The Young Artist...

 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 losing to Christmas with the Kranks
Christmas with the Kranks
Christmas with the Kranks is a 2004 American comedy film directed by Joe Roth and starring Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis. The screenplay by Chris Columbus is based on the 2001 novel Skipping Christmas by John Grisham.-Plot:...



Kevin Smith's reaction to Jersey Girl after its failure had been dour. Kevin Smith references this film during his cameo appearance in Degrassi: The Next Generation
Degrassi: The Next Generation
Degrassi: The Next Generation is a Canadian teen drama television series set in the Degrassi universe, which was created by Linda Schuyler and Kit Hood in 1979. Degrassi is the fourth fictional series in the Degrassi franchise, and follows The Kids of Degrassi Street, Degrassi Junior High, and...

; He jokingly tells Paige Michalchuk
Paige Michalchuk
Paige Michalchuk is a fictional character in the TV series Degrassi: The Next Generation, portrayed by Lauren Collins.Paige was initially presented as the stereotypical "Queen bee": rich, snobby, and popular...

, who he cut out of his fictional film Jay and Silent Bob Go Canadian, Eh!, that he cut Lopez out of half of Jersey Girl and wanted to cut Affleck out too "but then it just would have been that little kid". During the ending credits of Clerks II, Smith references the film, thanking it for its existence despite being disliked by critics: "to Jersey Girl for taking it so hard in the ass and never complaining." He references it again during an episode of Comedy Central
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....

's Reel Comedy when asked what the take-away message of Zack and Miri Make a Porno
Zack and Miri Make a Porno
Zack and Miri Make a Porno is a 2008 romantic comedy film written and directed by Kevin Smith, distributed by The Weinstein Company, and starring Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks. It is Smith's second film not to be set within the View Askewniverse and the first not set in New Jersey. It was...

should be: "Don't make Jersey Girl." When asked recently why he kept all his Jersey Girl posters hung up in his bathroom, he replied "Flick went in the shitter, so the posters followed suit." In a recent interview, he summed up his feelings on the film by saying "I think Jersey Girl was just one of those flicks that was the wrong time, the wrong guy, the wrong everything." In an interview from the Clerks II DVD, Smith noted "All these people were just thrashing this movies' stars instead of looking at the movie itself. I get that a lot of people didn't like it but dude, I spent 2 years of my life on that movie."

Despite its critical and commercial failure, the 2004 film is notable as the first major studio theatrical release to make a 9/11 joke. (When Gertie asks to see Cats
Cats (musical)
Cats is a musical composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot...

, Ollie refuses on the grounds that the long-running musical is "the second-worst thing to happen to New York.")

External links

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