Jersey Girl

I saw this movie a few years ago and I loved it , and it gave me all these butterflies.I saw it again today and it still has the same effect on me, as a matter of fact I felt it more and more, and yes it still DOES give me butterflies,just watching it. It didn't differ, I thought it would be like everything else in life, you remember it better than it really was, but it was just as good.Basically it's a love story about 2 different people who aren't really as different as they think , a Jersy girl who always dreams of the city and moving up and a city boy who was once from the Bronx and did move up and would do anything to never go back. It's romantic, sweet, funny, and heartfelt. I think it's most girls fairy tale in real life setting. It'll either make you feel good or it'll make you want to cry, but either way it's great Friday night movie.

On the surface of it, this movie is nothing special. However, there is something about the direction and the perfect casting that sways you to believe it. There are moments when you are wondering where the story will lead (but you're usually wrong) and the whole focus is on something that touches us all, whether we're from New Jersey, New York, London or Namibia: class, upbringing, love and prejudice, friendship, loyalty, and truth. Toby (Jami Gertz) plays a straightforward, if somewhat naive, go-getter with a big heart, and manages to steer clear of our disbelief, perhaps anchored somewhat by her down-to-earth girl buddies. The romance is touching, the bitter conflict of Sal's (Dylan McDermott) 'correct' relationship is deftly portrayed, and, sorry, but I have to say it, Gertz's beauty is dominant (but hey, I'm just a bloke). Lightweight with a Big Message for us all.

The Jersey Girl of 1992 (not to be confused with the Jersey Girl of 2004 — I have seen both) gets kudos for being a warm, funny, and entertaining romantic comedy. As a native New Jerseyan of Italian ancestry who spent the first ten years of his life in Hackensack, however, I had mixed feelings about the film's portrayal of middle class New Jersey culture.

Sometimes they hit the nail on the head and I smiled with nostalgic recognition, as when Toby comes home with a grocery bag with a loaf of Italian bread sticking out of it — that's an everyday Jersey occurrence. Ditto for her apartment above Foschini's bakery and a storefront Italian shop that sold ravioli and Italian sausage. Even the Bendix Diner evoked some nostalgia, but the producers may not have realized it is an anachronism. Most Jersey Diners no longer fit the 1950s stainless steel model — most now have been expanded into Mediterranean-styled restaurants that basically look like Denny's but still have traditional diner food like Taylor Pork Roll sandwiches and home fries.

Most disturbing, though, was the portrayal of working class Jersey females as dumb bimbos who talk like grammar school dropouts and dress like prostitutes. Sure, I saw a few of those types from cities like Newark and Jersey City back in the '60s, but they are a thing of the past. Even urban areas of New Jersey like Hoboken and Jersey City have become too gentrified to reinforce a culture of gum chewing, slutty dressing bimbos. And Hackensack, where the story takes place, has become more affluent in recent years than it was when I grew up there in the 50s. My second grade teacher in Hackensack taught us how to pronounce words correctly, not like the girls in the movie who sound more like they're from Brooklyn.

And where on earth did the writers get the idea that people in New Jersey humbly look to New Yorkers as something to emulate? Most people I grew up with in Bergen County, looked DOWN on New Yorkers, especially the people from "the Boroughs." Maybe the writers should have read the demographics showing New Jersey is perennially tied with Connecticut as number one (or two) in the U.S. in per capita income.

These things didn't affect my enjoyment of the movie. They just made me think that the production staff was composed of typically ignorant and arrogant New Yorkers. You know, those jerks who come over to Jersey and drive below the speed limit in the left lane and refuse to move over as NJ law requires!

First I don't see why people are being hard on this film me personally I loved it the first time when I saw it I was only 14 and today am 27 and I still can't get over this film.Dylan McDermott is hot as ever and he plays his character really well and Jami Gertz is perfect in this role and every time I see this film I get a lot of emotion. seriously this movie is great its a love story about two people from different world who meets and falls in love. so please give this movie a chance I recommender to those who are sensitive its a nice love story with a happy ending. so that is why I give it a 10 out of 10 I still get goosebumps when I watch it

I can't think or a more trite plot than this film. Nothing but cliches and stereotypes in the oldest poor girl meets arogant boy story. Yet, this was something that was touching, sensitive and if I dare say, transcendent.

Jami Gertz portrayal of Toby was perfection. The rest of the casting was also perfectly on target. Shucks, even the pre-schooler who told Toby that the "boys were being nuts" was terrific.

I suppose direction had much to do with the effectiveness of this film. Each character only existed in the context of their relationships with other characters. They were individuals, but they were never more than who they were in the film.

This was a rare and beautiful piece of work.