Jersey Girl
Metascore
43 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 35 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 35
  2. Mixed: 17 out of 35
  3. Negative: 9 out of 35
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  1. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    88
    Liv Tyler is a very particular talent who has sometimes been misused by directors more in love with her beauty than with her appropriateness for their story. Here she is perfectly cast.
  2. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Wesley Morris
    88
    Eloquent and unapologetically cute.
  3. Film Threat
    Reviewed by: Don R. Lewis
    80
    Has more heart up on the screen than any film I’ve seen in recent years. I mean, we’re talking sappy, sweet, heart wrenching sentimentality.
  4. Miami Herald
    Reviewed by: Rene Rodriguez
    75
    It's an unabashedly square picture, and proud of it. It is also a warm, funny, earnest movie, a stand-up exercise in a kind of Hollywood melodrama -- the feel-good weepie -- that has long been out of fashion.
  5. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Keith Phipps
    70
    Though Smith loses many of his past efforts' familiar trappings--Jay and Silent Bob are now confined to the production-company logo--Jersey Girl plays to Smith's strengths like no film since "Clerks."
  6. Portland Oregonian
    Reviewed by: M. E. Russell
    67
    The minute the movie flashes forward seven years and Castro takes over as Affleck's grade-school-age daughter: The whole enterprise suddenly becomes rather charming.
  7. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Michael Wilmington
    63
    Jersey Girl is an oddity, hard to dislike but impossible to buy.
  8. USA Today
    Reviewed by: Mike Clark
    63
    Smith is looking more and more like a developing major talent, so it could be years until we get a handle on this movie's legacy. The film is not only defensible as a cute one-shot, but also as a positive sign for the future.
  9. Baltimore Sun
    Reviewed by: Chris Kaltenbach
    63
    The biggest problem with Jersey Girl may not be exactly its fault; what is up there on the screen is cute and funny and heartfelt, even if it is unflinchingly formulaic.
  10. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Angel Cohn
    60
    Overall it's an enjoyable cruise down the Garden State Parkway, and Affleck and Castro are charming companions.
  11. Salon.com
    Reviewed by: Stephanie Zacharek
    60
    As an ode to fatherhood, Jersey Girl is sweet without being particularly deep; but Smith is really onto something when he nudges against the ways in which the geographic landscape of a life merges with the genetic one.
  12. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    Reviewed by: Sean Axmaker
    58
    For all of its good-natured guff, Jersey Girl chooses uncomplicated sentiment over the messy complications of real life.
  13. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Kirk Honeycutt
    50
    Smith stumbles setting up dramatic confrontations and strains credibility a time or two with implausible moments.
  14. Rolling Stone
    Reviewed by: Peter Travers
    50
    Affleck is modest and engaging, which keeps the movie out of "Gigli" territory. But it's close.
  15. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Megan Lehmann
    50
    Startlingly immature.
  16. Philadelphia Inquirer
    Reviewed by: Steven Rea
    50
    In Jersey Girl, Kevin Smith wears his heart on his sleeve - and on his pants, socks, boxers and backward-facing baseball cap.
  17. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Mick LaSalle
    50
    The film's overall construction is faulty. Its dramatic situations ring consistently false, and the story is phony as anything off the Hollywood assembly line. And yet, it's sincere phony.
  18. ReelViews
    Reviewed by: James Berardinelli
    50
    A lackluster melodrama with only a few inspired moments.
  19. Premiere
    Reviewed by: Aaron Hillis
    50
    Jersey Girl may have come from his soul, but it contradicts the charm of a Kevin Smith movie.
  20. The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
    Reviewed by: Rick Groen
    50
    Mainly bad, and a shockingly bland departure from a hitherto spunky guy.
  21. Charlotte Observer
    Reviewed by: Lawrence Toppman
    50
    Smith has called friend Ben Affleck his muse, and this picture is just as bland and superficially pleasant as its star.
  22. Variety
    Reviewed by: Joe Leydon
    50
    A bland slab of sentimental hokum that proves even the most smart-alecky of indie auteurs can turn warm and fuzzy on occasion.
  23. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: J.R. Jones
    50
    Combines absurd male fantasy and grating chick-flick cliche.
  24. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Lisa Schwarzbaum
    42
    For some four fifths of its length, Jersey Girl is as square as a turnpike-diner place mat.
  25. Empire
    Reviewed by: Olly Richards
    40
    Sweet, formulaic entertainment, but occasionally clunky.
  26. Dallas Observer
    Reviewed by: Robert Wilonsky
    40
    Smith used to make movies to make fun of movies like Jersey Girl; now he's just another guy working the assembly line, which won't make you a sell-out if no one buys it.
  27. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Jack Mathews
    38
    It might have been a marketing nightmare, but if Lopez and Tyler had switched roles, it would have been a better movie.
  28. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Kimberley Jones
    30
    If Affleck stumbles, Smith's script does nothing to catch his fall. Surprisingly, Smith's truest talent – that of writing – is Jersey Girl's weakest link.
  29. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Scott Foundas
    30
    Both stars are atrocious -- but the real blame for this cosmically self-indulgent disaster lies with Kevin Smith, who directs like a proud father who can't stop showing you pictures of his kids. And here's the thing: The brats are ugly.
  30. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Ed Park
    30
    Aware of its awfulness.
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User Reviews

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User Score
7.6 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 49 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 28 out of 35
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 35
  3. Negative: 6 out of 35
  1. Kevin
    4
    While "Jersey Girl" certainly doesn't break any new ground, it is heartfelt and overwhelmingly cute. In the lighter, humorous moments, the film succeeds wonderfully, but everything falls apart in the sappy scenes.… Full Review »
  2. TarasE.
    10
    Simply great.
  3. MitchA.
    9
    This film may be soppy and extremely sentimental, but do they always have to be bad points. Not the usual Kevin Smith film, but for what it lacks in dick jokes and snootchie bootchies it makes up for in heart.Very funny!!… Full Review »
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