Those who worship at the altar of Jay and Silent Bob are likely to find the gentle sweetness of Jersey Girl more than a little nauseating. But anyone who has long admired Smith’s undeniable knack for dialogue, and just wished he would cut it out with the fanboy comic-book nonsense already, should be pleasantly surprised by the many strengths of his latest offering.

Perhaps most surprisingly, this could be the film that saves Ben Affleck’s nosediving career. That is, if anyone is willing to see a movie tainted by the lingering horror of Bennifer. While Jennifer Lopez does appear in Jersey Girl, her role is both brief and painless. Smith wasn’t lying when he stressed in multiple recent interviews that this movie is a far cry from “Gigli 2: Bennifer Strikes Back.” The central love story of Jersey Girl is between Affleck’s character and his daughter.

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Smith, too, shows a new, and entirely welcome, side of himself with Jersey Girl. The filmmaker who once claimed he’d never be capable of making a serious movie that spanned actual seasons has made the first widely appealing film of his career. He has done so without abandoning his trademark sense of humor. The Jay and Silent Bob fans may weep, but for pretty much everyone else, there’s cause to rejoice.

[FULL STORY]

MINNEAPOLIS STAR-TRIBUNE (***) – “Kevin Smith trades cynicism for sweetness in ‘Jersey Girl'”

Kevin Smith refuses to include the standard director’s label — “A Kevin Smith Film” — in the opening credits of his movies. He believes that a movie is the work of an entire film crew and that it would be pompous to take all the credit.

That attitude is commendable, but it wouldn’t have been a bad idea to put his name on top of “Jersey Girl.” In fact, the movie is so out of keeping with his other work that he might even have considered sticking in a reminder every 15 minutes or so: “Hey, folks, this is a Kevin Smith film. Really.”

The guy who gave us the irreverent “Dogma,” the druggie comedy “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back” and the cheeky “Clerks” turns over a completely new leaf with “Jersey Girl,” a heart-on-its-sleeve, tear-in-the-eye comic drama that — and who thought we ever would say this about a Kevin Smith film? — is downright sweet.

[FULL STORY]

MINNEAPOLIS STAR-TRIBUNE (***) – “Kevin Smith trades cynicism for sweetness in ‘Jersey Girl'”

Kevin Smith refuses to include the standard director’s label — “A Kevin Smith Film” — in the opening credits of his movies. He believes that a movie is the work of an entire film crew and that it would be pompous to take all the credit.

That attitude is commendable, but it wouldn’t have been a bad idea to put his name on top of “Jersey Girl.” In fact, the movie is so out of keeping with his other work that he might even have considered sticking in a reminder every 15 minutes or so: “Hey, folks, this is a Kevin Smith film. Really.”

The guy who gave us the irreverent “Dogma,” the druggie comedy “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back” and the cheeky “Clerks” turns over a completely new leaf with “Jersey Girl,” a heart-on-its-sleeve, tear-in-the-eye comic drama that — and who thought we ever would say this about a Kevin Smith film? — is downright sweet.

[FULL STORY]