Jersey Girl

Drowning in every workaholic-single-father-gets-his-priorities-straight cliché you could possibly imagine (and then some), Jersey Girl is so insultingly trite and treacly it actually features self-centered, single-dad widower Ben Affleck not only realizing (at the last moment) that his daughter's school talent show is more important than a job interview, but also dashing back to the 'burbs to join her onstage for a song. Granted, the duet--which manages to be insipidly saccharine and hokey despite being a murderous number from Sweeney Todd--is the performance that father and daughter had planned all along before his ego got in the way. But the very fact that it never even crosses Affleck's mind to ask about rescheduling his interview lays bare how blindly enamored writer-director Kevin Smith was with the hackneyed notion of this false dilemma. Smith deserves a little credit for trying to stretch beyond his trademark, biting potty-humor comedies and braving a little sentimentality, but if this myopic, mechanical soft-sell is the best he can do, please, oh please, bring back those trash-mouthed stoners Jay and Silent Bob. Not recommended. [Note: DVD extras include audio commentaries (one by writer-director Kevin Smith and costar Ben Affleck; the other by Smith, producer Scott Mosier, and “special guest” Jason Mewes [“Jay” to Smith's “Silent Bob”]), a 21-minute interview with Smith and Affleck, a 16-minute behind-the-scenes featurette, five segments of “Roadside Attractions with Kevin Smith” from The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (including an intro by Smith), text cast/crew interviews, and trailers. Bottom line: a solid extras package for a lamentable mainstream flick from indie darling Smith.] (R. Blackwelder)