Jersey Girl (12) - Buena Vista Home Entertainment.
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars.
In contrast, Ben Affleck looks decidedly ill at ease in this patchy attempt at a heart-warming family drama that co-stars his former squeeze Jennifer Lopez.
She wisely takes a cameo role as Affleck's loving wife who tragically dies in childbirth, leaving him to bring up their daughter.
Affleck's character, celebrity publicist Ollie Trinke, tries to overcome his grief by throwing himself back into his work, leaving his father (George Carlin) literally holding the baby.
Juggling the demands of a career and baby proves too hot to handle, and when Ollie's frustrations boil over, it costs him his job and flamboyant New York lifestyle.
Yet moving back to live with his father in New Jersey proves a surprisingly uplifting experience for Ollie, who starts to bond with his daughter, charm a girl in a video store (Liv Tyler) and make the most of a dead-end job.
Yet still he hankers after the glamorous career he left behind. Will he break his daughter's heart by returning to New York, or will he accept that his new life offers equally rich rewards?
In the right hands, Jersey Girl could have been a touching tale of one man's voyage of discovery into the joys of fatherhood, but Affleck is like a square peg in a round hole in the central role.
Out to rent on video & DVD
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