Posted by Scott at ool-43505cb0.dyn.optonline.net on August 05, 2003 at 08:57:15:
In Reply to: Bad press for JG? posted by JBJBJR on August 05, 2003 at 08:49:47:
Aug. 5 — Looks like Ben and Jen may have turkey number two at their door. Even while their new flick “Gigli” has been getting some of the toughest reviews in film history, the advance buzz on their upcoming film, “Jersey Girl,” isn’t much better. In fact, one person at an early screening of the film in March says that people were walking out from the beginning.
“THIS MOVIE is a dog! Don’t see it,” notes the reviewer, who admits he was one of those walked after an hour. “Jersey Girl” is scheduled to open next year. “Unless the cutting room floor contains a pile over ten feet high of unused footage, I do not think that there is any way to fix and save this movie before its release to the general public.”
“Jersey Girl” director Kevin Smith, however, is insisting that the scathing reviews of “Gigli” aren’t making him sweat. “Apples and oranges,” he assures fans on his web site. “And while I’m sorry that ‘Gigli’ didn’t do better this weekend, it’s [sic] critical reaction and [box office] take won’t have the slightest effect on ‘Jersey Girl.’ Take my word for it.”
In another posting, Smith critiqued “Gigli,” and it wasn’t exactly a rave review. “Like most Marty Brest movies, it could’ve done with some tighter editing.”
Then Smith goes on to bash the Ben/Jen critics, and rather bizarrely compares them with the Columbine killers. “The sheer naked aggression is astounding. Alright, fine — folks are tired of hearing about their relationship. But who started covering it to death in the first place? . . . . It was the same press that’s going after them with the gleeful abandon of those trenchcoat wearing high schoolers who march into school and pick off the popular kids with a small arsenal. But let ‘em shred the movie. Ben and Jen got what they wanted out of it: Ben and Jen. And everyone’ll live happily ever after.”