I finally saw Kevin Smith’s most recent movie, Jersey Girl. It was a massive failure at the box office, so I got to see it at the discount theater. I’m glad I didn’t pay $7 for it, but it was a decent movie.

The previews were misleading. I was expecting the plot to focus on Ben Affleck and some girl falling in love, with a lot of Kevin Smith’s humor and intelligent dialogue. The movie was really about Ben’s relationship with his daughter and his father, with the little romantic subplot touched upon occasionally. While it achieved that well, it didn’t really do it any better than other movies have done. And it completely lacked Kevin Smith’s previous style in everything except the characters’ unusual names.

Ben Affleck played Ben Affleck – nothing new there. The big surprise was the serious, emotional role of his father, played by George Carlin. That’s right, George Carlin acted in a serious, emotional role. And he did it so well that I forgot he was George Carlin.

As I said, it was a decent movie, but it wasn’t anything groundbreaking. It will never be a cult favorite, like most of Kevin Smith’s previous movies, and you certainly won’t hear any lines from Jersey Girl being repeated by your friends. It was more emotional than Chasing Amy, but it won’t get any awards.

Overall

It’s really not worth buying, but it’s worth seeing at the discount theater. George Carlin’s serious acting alone is amazing enough to justify the price.