Directed by Kevin Smith

I wanted to check out this movie because of the director; Kevin Smith is one of my favorites. He has an uncanny ability to write scripts rich with vulgarity and offbeat topics, but still full of heart and soul. I am always anxious to see what he does next. Let me say this first: don't go into the theater expecting typical Kevin Smith (Jay and Silent Bob, potty mouth jokes, references to drugs), or you will be sorely disappointed. As I heard it put, the least conventional of moviemakers has taken on the most conventional of plots. And he has just barely managed to make it stand out from the Lifetime and Hallmark movies with similar plots.

Here's the low-down: Ollie Trinke (Ben Affleck), a successful publicist for the music industry, meets a girl, falls in love with the girl, marries the girl (who, incidentally enough, is played by none other than Jennifer Lopez). She becomes pregnant and dies during childbirth, leaving the devastated Ollie to deal with a newborn. He throws himself into his work, while pushing the baby girl onto his widowed father (George Carlin) in his hometown in Jersey. However, amazingly enough, Ollie realizes the error of his ways, and decides to be the best father ever to this little girl. He loses his job after publicly bashing a client, moves back to Jersey, and in with his father. He gets a new job as a street sweeper. For seven years, he goes about in this manner. Gertie (his daughter) adores him and life is good.

Ollie misses the city though. He keeps going to interviews, hoping that one will work out. Gertie does not want to live in the city; she loves living with Pop. Also, Ollie meets a cute girl. Would you like to know how? Over renting porn in the video store. Liv Tyler as Maya is probably the freshest breath of this movie. Her quirky character, who is in grad school and writing a paper about the pornographic video habits of adult men, offers a different and welcome twist to the mostly cookie-cutter plot. Her and Affleck also have an offbeat warmth and chemistry that serves the movie well. And Smith very wisely does not go into the “she can't replace my mother” bit.

Kevin Smith once gave us dialogue that was sublime slacker poetry, but the jokes in this movie are so flat and so easy. Now mind you, I laughed out loud, but I saw it coming, and it's not the same. For example, Ollie walking in on Gertie and a friend “playing doctor." The ensuing scene is almost directly out of a Full House episode with just slightly more of an edge (and more fashionable clothes of course). I mean, the biggest conflict of the movie is whether Ollie will choose an interview over going to Gertie's school variety show. Gee, I wonder what he does.

I cannot argue the good acting present in this movie, however. Ben Affleck goes on one hell of an emotional roller coaster, and he conveys each emotion exceptionally well. Raquel Castro (Gertie) shows promise. She makes a great mini J-Lo. Though only 7 years old, she has some true star power and a great singing voice. George Carlin's performance as “Pop” is commendable as well. His dialogue wasn't wonderful and not terribly original either, but that's not his fault. Jennifer Lopez's role in the movie was short, but I have to admit it was exceptional. In my opinion, this is probably her best acting since Out of Sight. Her more recent movies seem to focus on her beauty rather than her acting skills. As previously mentioned, Liv Tyler was outstanding in this movie, though I did miss the pointy ears.

One may get the impression from this review that I did not enjoy the movie; I did. It's just not quite up to par with the rest of Kevin Smith's repertoire. However, I truly don't think he intended it to be. He has a daughter now, and I see this movie as a love letter to her. I certainly hope she enjoys it. I will still look forward to seeing what he does next.

[Irulan]