~Monday~ Using my Amazon Prime subscription, I started watching Chasing Amy, and about 15 minutes into it, I abandoned it. Too much smoking and smoke being blown in people’s faces. And way too heterocentric for my taste.
Since Ben Affleck was at top of mind, I chose Jersey Girl, probably because it was on the “Those who watched Chasing Amy also watched…” list.
In a strange coincidence, after finding out only a couple of weeks ago, while watching an unfinished life, that Jennifer Lopez also acted (I knew she was a singer, but didn’t know she acted), here she was in this movie, too.
The synopsis
After his career is sidelined from an unexpected tragedy and a personal blowup, a single man must take care of his precocious daughter.
The trailer
My thoughts and observations
- I liked this movie, but definitely did not love it.
- I found it a little schmaltzy, with the precocious child gig a little over done.
- Themes touched on:
- Setting and keeping priorities
- How precious life is
- Single parenting
- Mourning and mourning periods
- Family (how important it is and who comprises it)
- What success is
- I never sensed great chemistry between Ben Affleck’s character and Liv Tyler‘s character.
- The actor playing the grandfather looked so familiar to me, but I couldn’t place him. During the credit roll, I saw that it was George Carlin, and thought, “Of course.”
- This was a one-thumb up movie for me.
Have you seen this movie? If so, what did you think of it?