Jackson Booth-Millard
To be honest, I don't know of the other movies written and directed by Kevin Smith (Clerks, Dogma, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back) that don't feature Jay and Silent Bob, so I was hoping that this one would be worthwhile. Basically in New York City, Oliver "Ollie" Trinke (Ben Affleck) is a powerful media publicist and PR in the music industry, he meets and falls in love Gertrude Steiney (Jennifer Lopez), who soon falls pregnant. Gertrude sadly dies during childbirth from an aneurysm, to avoid his grief Ollie buries himself in work and ignores his new daughter, Gertie. Ollie's father Bart (George Carlin), who also lost his own wife many years prior, takes time off from work to take care of Gertie, but eventually Ollie lives up to his responsibilities as a single parent. Under the stresses of looking after a baby, including diaper changes and constant crying, Ollie trashes his client Will Smith, then known as the Fresh Prince, who was releasing Independence Day, in front of a group of reporters. Unfortunately, this costs him his job, so he moves back with his father in New Jersey, he apologises for ignoring Gertie, attributing his public outburst to his grief. Seven years have passed, Ollie has become blacklisted by all New York City's public relations firms, he now works as a civil servant in the borough, and Gertie (Raquel Castro) is now is in elementary school. At the video rental store, Ollie strikes up friendship with one of the clerks, graduate student Maya Harding (Liv Tyler), who probes him about his love life. After hearing that he has not had sex since the death of Gertrude, Maya offers to have sex with Ollie, but they are interrupted by Gertie before anything can happen, but Maya becomes a part of their lives. As part of his job in the borough, Ollie speaks to a group of outraged citizens to win approval for a street in the neighbourhood to be temporarily closed for major public works, he is successful, and he realises how much he misses public relations work. He contacts his former protégé Arthur Brickman (Jason Biggs), who sets up a promising interview, but the prospect of moving back to New York City creates tension among Ollie, Gertie, Bart, and Maya, especially as the interview is the same day as Gertie's school talent show. Gertie shouts at her father, saying she wished he had died instead of her mother, he claims he hates her right back, saying she and her mother took his life away, he immediately regrets this and tries to apologise, but the damage is done and Gertie storms off crying. A few days later, they try to patch things up, Gertie accepts that they move to New York, Ollie goes to the interview, and has a chance encounter with Will Smith, who has no idea who Ollie is, they have a conversation about work and children, after which Ollie is persuaded to skip the interview and leave. Ollie rushes to make it to the talent show, where a majority of the children have chosen to perform "Memory" from the musical Cats, but Gertie convinced her family to perform a song from the musical Sweeney Todd. Ollie makes it just in time, making Gertie very happy, their performance eventually goes well with the audience, they celebrate in the bar. Maya is happy they are staying in New Jersey, because Ollie has decided not to take to job, she asks why he did so if he loved so much, Ollie says he thought he did, but he loves his new life much more, because being a father is the only thing he was ever really good at. Also starring Mike Starr as Block, Stephen Root as Greenie, Jason Lee as PR Exec #1, Matt Damon as PR Exec #2 and S. Epatha Merkerson as Doctor. Affleck is good at being both funny and serious as the single father, Carlin gets some one-liners at the grandfather, Lopez is good in her brief time, Castro is adorable as the smart daughter, and the cameo by Smith is very welcome. This movie is slushy, and it does have the cringy and sympathetic moments, but it did make me laugh a good amount, the love story is reasonable, and the family stuff doesn't hurt, all together it was a likeable romantic comedy drama. Good!
Boba_Fett1138
Well, I guess the good news is that I didn't hated this movie and it's definitely not a horrible movie to watch but the bad news is that that's about the most positive thing I can say about this movie.I can definitely see and understand what they were going for with this movie; a sweet and charming family drama, with some comedy elements in it. The only problem with all of it is that the drama doesn't ever feel very realistic. The way certain characters were handling certain situations and the way certain things progressed, all made this movie feel very fabricated and often things got put on too thick, causing the story and its main premise to never really work out well. I never felt emotional connected to anything or anyone in this movie. Besides, it's all being some very predictable stuff, in the way that you always know what is going to happen next and how the movie shall eventually end. It makes the movie even somewhat annoying in parts and definitely make it feel like a redundant one as well. You can real easily do without ever seeing this movie.The movie is also still from the period that Ben Affleck wasn't exactly being one of the best actors around. He had a real hard time handling the emotional and more dramatic elements of this movie and obviously felt far more at ease handling its fun and comedy elements. So his performance is really being a bit of a mixed bag, though bottom line is that he simply got miscast in this movie. It has still has some good acting in it though but the movie its emphasis is mostly being put on the Affleck character and his daughter, who both unfortunately are being the weakest actors out of the movie.The movie still has some moments and its stronger points. I can see how someone can still enjoy this movie for what it is and till some extend I also did just that but that doesn't make this a great movie as well, or one that fully succeeded at what it attempted to achieve.In my opinion it's a failed attempt at blending drama with comedy elements but it still remains a watchable enough and harmless little film.6/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/
