“Can’t sleep, clown’ll eat me...” I

I couldn't sleep at all last night. No idea why. My sleeping patterns since I got back to Australia have been very bad, I barely sleep nowadays. And it has affected my work and my health quite a bit. I was trying really hard to get to sleep last night, but I ended up tossing and turning in bed for a few hours. At some point I gave up trying and started to sort out my DVD collection.

An interesting realisation dawned on me as I did...I actually own all the films written and directed by Kevin Smith (I'm a pretty big fan of his) - Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Jersey Girl and Clerks 2.

Of all his films, my favourite still has to be Chasing Amy (for anyone who has never seen it, please do yourself a favour and watch it. It will change the way you look at love). Clerks, Clerks 2 and Dogma all are tied for second place and surprise surprise, Jersey Girl is actually the third down on the list. With JASBSB next and Mallrats last of all.

I know most people out there probably haven't watched Jersey Girl before or if they did probably didn't like it very much. Smith seems to enjoy taking the piss out of himself with Jersey Girl but I think its a wonderfully touching film; it has a some-what predictable ending but a sweet flick non-the-less. Ok, it had some really bad acting (actually I think only one of the cast members did a bad job) but overall, I think the film deals with a topic not seen much in films at all. Fathers and daughters.

I think unfair judgement has been passed on this film based upon the early types of film that Smith released. This film was for a much different audience, and if memory serves me right, even Smith himself said so. Jersey Girl really has to be looked at with new eyes; by removing oneself from the well established and much loved "View Askewuniverse". Its a really heart warming story of how a father comes to terms with his own dreams and his role as a father. I think when we look at the film from that point of view, we get a very different feel for it.

I'm not ashamed to say I enjoyed it the first time I watched it at the movies and its not just because I am a fan of Kevin Smith but it was because it was a film that moved me. I found a connection with that film that I didn't with a lot of other movies I've watched. I'm not saying its the best film ever made or that it'll rank as one of my top 10 favourites (hmm...interesting idea for a future post perhaps?) but I'm saying that its a film I enjoyed watching and would not have a problem watching it again. Lets just say I enjoyed Jersey Girl a heck of a lot more then I enjoyed the 2nd and 3rd Matrix films. :)