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Jersey Girl (2004)

tomatometer

41

Average Rating: 5.3/10
Reviews Counted: 170
Fresh: 69 | Rotten: 101

Full of cloyingly sentimental cliches.

32

Average Rating: 4.7/10
Critic Reviews: 38
Fresh: 12 | Rotten: 26

Full of cloyingly sentimental cliches.

audience

52

liked it
Average Rating: 2.9/5
User Ratings: 127,522

My Rating

Movie Info

Writer and director Kevin Smith embraces his warm and fuzzy side with this comedy drama about a man who learns a lot about life and love in the wake of a personal tragedy. Ollie Trinke (Ben Affleck) is a guy who seemingly has it made -- he has a great job as a music publicist with a major Manhattan public relations firm, and he's madly in love with his wife, Gertrude (Jennifer Lopez). Ollie is very much excited about the fact he and Gertrude are soon to become parents, but Ollie's joy turns to

PG-13, 1 hr. 42 min.

Comedy

Kevin Smith

Sep 7, 2004

$25.2M

Mirimax Films

Cast

All Critics (171) | Top Critics (38) | Fresh (76) | Rotten (104) | DVD (33)

The script stoops to cheap gags that undercut Affleck's efforts to sustain a believable character.

June 23, 2008 Full Review Source: Variety | Comment
Variety
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The grating sense of commercial calculation in Jersey Girl consistently undercuts Smith's fine writing.

March 27, 2004 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | Comment
Chicago Reader
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Inspired by Smith's own awe and amazement at being a father, the movie is modest and entertaining, with a minimum of sentimental goo, and it demands little of us except a good-natured willingness to go with it.

March 27, 2004 Full Review Source: Salon.com | Comment
Salon.com
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The filmmaker drowns his trademark edgy stew of smutty humor, stiff acting and dime-store insight into human nature with a gravy of glutinous bathos, making for a singularly unpalatable dish.

March 26, 2004 Comment
Washington Post
Top Critic IconTop Critic

This kind of weepy material works in the hands of melodrama masters like Douglas Sirk or Pedro Almodovar. But here, it's over-the-top and it's just horrible.

March 26, 2004 Comment
Washington Post
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Smith is looking more and more like a developing major talent, so it could be years until we get a handle on this movie's legacy.

March 26, 2004 Full Review Source: USA Today | Comment
USA Today
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Formulaic script and uneven tone. Disappointing.

December 24, 2010 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media | Comment
Common Sense Media

Who knew Smith could be so utterly bland, cliché, and run of the mill?

April 29, 2009 Comment
Cinema Crazed

Jersey Girl obeys the classic conventions of romantic comedy but there are ingredients in this mix that raise it a notch above average.

October 18, 2008 Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | Comment
Urban Cinefile

Jersey Girl marks a low point for the tubby New Jersey auteur.

June 23, 2008 Full Review Source: Film4 | Comment

Mature and heartfelt, though not overly saccharine.

September 24, 2007 Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | Comment
eFilmCritic.com

It takes more than a couple of dirty one-liners to retain your edge in light, predictable fare.

September 29, 2006 Full Review Source: Lawrence.com | Comment

Affleck is at ease in this down-to-earth drama in a way that he never seems to be in his action movies, and Castro seems like a genuine child instead of like a child actor.

September 25, 2006 Comment

Smith reinvents the romantic-comedy by making a film about a man in love with his kid.

July 22, 2006 Full Review Source: Film Threat | Comment
Film Threat

In several ways Jersey Girl is more appealing than Clerks or Mallrats.... Nonetheless, it lacks the smart observational-humor edge and often thoughtful boldness -- and, most frustratingly, the promise -- of Chasing Amy or Dogma.

April 5, 2006 Full Review Source: DVDJournal.com | Comment
DVDJournal.com

...this Miramax DVD release could have been just a bare-bones edition. Instead, it loads up the goods with the stuff Smith's fans have come to expect from his well-received Special Editions.

April 5, 2006 Full Review Source: DVDJournal.com | Comment
DVDJournal.com

Had the potential of being Kevin Smith's best film period had it not been sunk by contrivance in the third act.

December 6, 2005 Full Review Source: Film Threat | Comment
Film Threat

A romantic comedy seriously marred by a clunky plot and a couple of characters that are hard to sympathize with.

July 25, 2005 Full Review Source: Laramie Movie Scope | Comment
Laramie Movie Scope

A romantic comedy seriously marred by a clunky plot and a couple of characters that are hard to sympathize with.

July 20, 2005 Full Review Source: Laramie Movie Scope | Comment
Laramie Movie Scope

Jersey Girl emerges as Kevin Smith's most polished effort to date, but not his funniest.

June 20, 2005 Full Review Source: FromTheBalcony | Comment

People who find Smith's work too brazen or fringe will really fall for this picture, likewise those easily pleased by this genre will enjoy. Hardcore fans may be very upset by Smith doing something so ordinary and even mundane.

April 2, 2005 Full Review Source: Dark Horizons | Comment
Dark Horizons

In a strange way, it's both the most mainstream and the most personal movie Smith has made to date.

March 5, 2005 Full Review Source: NYC Film Critic | Comment
NYC Film Critic
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Jersey Girl

Kevin Smith scores again. I hadnt seen this one yet for some reason. It only took me 4 years but this is why Kevin Smith is amazing. And Ben Affleck just needs to do Kevin Smith films and he will be okay. Wonderful movie.

June 29, 2008
jmanard52

Super Reviewer

Ollie: You're riding that Batmobile, aren't you?! How cool is that?Kevin Smith's weakest film by far. I'm not saying I hated it, but I expected more from probably my favorite director. I will say this: this is the perfect love story; simple, nothing new, yet incredibly predictable. I was disappointed with the formulaic

January 23, 2011
CreedsDelight

Super Reviewer

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