Kevin Smith moves into Hollywood country with a big sappy film based on that old sappy chestnut, the sexy widowed father who is recovering the learning to love again. He has the stars to do it too, with Ben Affleck, Liv Tyler and J Lo, but he himself doesn't quite have the smarts to match the best of Hollywood sap. After a promising beginning the film begins to misfire.
It's amazing how selfish everyone is in this film: Affleck attacks the doctors who are trying to help his dead wife (he actually lunges at them - now granted its an emotional time and may be what some people do but it makes him seem like a wanker), Affleck's father (George Carlin) dumps the baby on him when Affleck has a big meeting ("to be a better dad" - way to ruin my career dad), then when the kid grows up she refuses to move from Jersey because she's selfish, too. It just makes the characters harder to be around.
I understand Affleck gets fired for telling everyone to get rooted - but would he really be consigned to years in oblivion working on construction sites? If he was a good publicist, and it seems he was, then wouldn't he be able to get another publicist-related job? His wife died - I think people would understand. Smith often referred to Jerry Maguire when making this film, but that film has a lot more verisimilitude than this one - Cameron Crowe really did his research. Doesn't work here.
On the DVD Smith talks incessantly about how the film's box office was ruined by the Bennefier backlash - he can't be blamed for using that tactic, to help save his career, but the fact is his own script didn't work.
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