A right little charmer

Kevin Smith is a director and writer who's the hero of many young American men — such is his propensity for making films crammed full of drug references, dick'n'fart jokes and pop-culture riffing.

But beneath the crude exterior of his movies, where stoner duo Jay and Silent Bob have become cult demi-gods, lies a briskly intelligent and sensitive writer. He received rave reviews for his man-who-falls-for-a-lesbian romance Chasing Amy in 1997 and made the cleverest film about Catholicism in 1999's Dogma. Now, with Jersey Girl he turns his pen to more grown-up topics, namely, how a father raises his daughter when the mother dies.

This film suffered heavily in the States from the casting of Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez as the briefly happy couple, Oliver and Gertrude Trinke. Following the crash-and-burn of their relationship, played out in the tabloids, and the disastrous Gigli, word of mouth on Jersey Girl had unfairly written it off as yet another Bennifer catastrophe.

The perceived negative impact of Jen and Ben onscreen together is obvious in the first few scenes of JG, as Ollie and Gertrude's courtship is whizzed through: they date, marry, fall pregnant and have the baby within the first 10 minutes or so. Ollie is a hotshot New York music publicist, fast-talking, city-living, never on time for his pregnant wife. And when she dies during childbirth, he is a man poleaxed by grief, but unable to admit it to himself. This results in his instant dismissal from his job when he commits the ultimate PR crime — slagging off his client in front of the press (as this is 1996, Will Smith is dismissed by Ollie as the 'two-bit Fresh Prince', a neat reference that is tied up when Smith himself actually makes a cameo right at the end).

So, jobless, homeless and a selfish bastard to boot, Ollie moves in with his dad Bart, a salty, likeable working-class George Carlin, living in suburban New Jersey. Ollie's a rubbish dad at first, unable to even handle the basic rudiments of parenthood. But he makes an about-turn, and seven years later, he's a devout daddy, although now stuck doing manual labour in the public works department. Enter Liv Tyler, doing her best sexy librarian impression as a quirky research student, and mix it up with Ollie's urge to get back into city life countered with his devotion to little Gertie (Raquel Castro), and you have a neat, although oft-trod dilemma: career or family?

With the help of cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmund, Smith's direction has improved manifold from the rather basic point-and-shoot efforts of before, and the sentimental nature of the movie does its best to resist flopping into mawkishness, although there are a couple of cheesy moments.

But Smith's dialogue is spot-on — funny and sharp and true, reaching an apex of excellence during the acutely painful row between Ollie and Gertie. He also gets the best out of Ben Affleck — who can seem like he's sleepwalking through other roles — who delivers an impressive performance as the divided Ollie. It leaves you with a genuinely nice, fuzzy warm sensation — without feeling like you've had to wade through sickly-sweet sentiment to get it. A right little charmer.