Movies

Oliver is a publicist working in NYC with a good success rate and a demanding schedule. He meets Gertie Steiney and his life is changed. The second huge change in his life comes when Gertie gets pregnant and dies giving birth to their daughter.Oliver's father Bart helps him out with daughter Gertie up to a point. Then Bart demands that Oliver start acting like Gertie's father. The third huge change in Oliver's life comes when he makes the mistake of taking his daughter to work, resulting in his catastrophic firing.Most of the film is about the period seven years after the firing, when Oliver meets Maya, and Gertie's big personality starts to show itself.Does Oliver ever get his old life back?

I find ironic that people who enjoyed Kevin Smith's other movies hated this one. That right there pretty much explains most of the haters (i.e. those recommending Mallrats and JSB over this). I thoroughly enjoyed this movie and I was laughing my ass during most of it. I am obviously not an actor, but I didn't find any problems with the acting or the dialogue. It sounded real and believable. Sure, there may moments that are corny or make you want to wince, but every movie has moments like that. Raquel Castro and Liv Tyler really stole the show, George Carlin had just the right pizzaz as a crusty old Pop, and some of us can relate to Ben Affleck's character.

This was a cute story. And it's one of Ben's better roles, but then Keven Smith always did control his actors well.Particular gems: the daughter asking the video store girl what her intentions towards her father are after a similar scene with her father finding her with a little boy; doing Sweeney Todd for her school pageant; the carriage ride in New York City.The little girl who played Ben's daughter was utterly amazing, and if we're really lucky, she'll be even better when she grows up. I would have liked a bit more of a conclusion in the father's life, as he's still trying to find his niche (personally, I think he should go into politics...), but as the story was really about father and daughter, it worked quite well.