Oliver Trinke (Ben Affleck) is an up & coming music promoter. Its his job to whip up a frenzy for concerts and interviews. Although he is from "Joysey" , he works and lives in Manhattan with his beautiful wife, Gertrude (Jennifer Lopez), also a professional. They are expecting a baby and everyone is excited, including Ollie's Dad, Bart (George Carlin) , who runs the street sweeper in their NJ town. Sorrow suddenly descends, as Gertrude dies of an aneurysm giving birth to a daughter. Grieving greatly, Ollie parks his newborn daughter, also Gertie, with his Dad for the first month while he focuses on work. Naturally, this approach is a disaster and Ollie has a meltdown which gets him fired. Now, he must get to know his little girl and go limping back home to work in the same department as his Dad in Jersey. Flash forwarding seven years, Gertie is a spirited gal who charms even as she pushes buttons. Especially on her mind is a musical revue her class is doing for the parents; Gert insists they do a song from Sweeney Todd! Her dad will help her do it, with Gpa and his two closest friends also playing second fiddles. Meanwhile, Ollie has two new events in his life. One is the attractive sales clerk, Maya (Liv Tyler) at the video store who makes a pass at him. But, surprisingly, he also gets a job interview with a company similar to the one that fired him. Here is his chance to get back into a "classier", more exciting, more lucrative place in life. Or is it so? This movie, written and directed by Kevin Smith of Clerks and Chasing Amy, has its charms and humor. Especially wonderful is Affleck, Lopez, Carlin, Tyler, and little Raquel Castro as the younger Gert. Also nice is the Jersey scenery and the edgy talk and themes. Since all of us romcom fans have to "look back in time" to find new delights, I heartily recommend searching for this one.
