Confused about the message

I agree. Affleck's character clearly loved doing his PR job, he was good at it. Why should his family all want him to give up something that makes him happy in order to keep doing a job he doesn't like? Like Liv Tyler says, kids always hate change. But Gertie even comes to the conclusion, if Mom liked living in the city, so will I. Affleck should have moved to the city, gotten the job, taken Liv with him, and Gertie would have had a ton of new things to enjoy. Home is where you make it.

Now, if you want to talk about how he might get sucked back into working long hours and not spending enough time with his family, that's something to talk about. If you want to talk about him moving out of his Dad's house and leaving Dad all alone, that's something to talk about. But all of a sudden Affleck comes to the conclusion that running a street sweeper in a small town and raising his daughter is the only thing he was ever good at. Uh, no, he was good at the PR job too and he liked it better. He can do that and raise Gertie along with Liv, find a way to balance work and family like apparently Will Smith did and he seems happy.

wgf spot on. and I'm not confused about the message lol.. His family was so selfish to make him feel guilty for pursing his dreams of a better life.

- he said it himself he didn't want to pick up trash all his life in that "batmobile", who would if you can get a way higher paying job.

- his daughter was another loud mouth kid who needed to be punished! If they daughter had any intelligence, she would see they would be living in a better home with better food..etc..

- the heart warming ending was nice, but too bad we all saw it coming. I guess meeting Will Smith in person is enough to make you miss a great opportunity.

- the scene when he announced it to his friend, dad and daughter ticked me off coz they were all not understanding what he wanted. Than later tried to give him the cold shoulder bit.

...the movie's message is basically, feel guilty and please everyone else around you over your peace and happiness. The movie is shallow stuff from typical democrat liberal kevin Smith, feel guilty for the rest of your life but leet everyone else be happy around you, so lame,


...

if you bothered to study Smith's career at all, you will realize that he has done exactly what Ollie did in Jersey Girl. He quit big budget films so he could do podcasts and Q&As and spend more time with his wife and kid.

It is always this way in films. People want to do certain things that don't help them in a family way but then there good taste wins out in the end and decide family is more important. Personally, I'd rather have seen Ollie get that job and they go back to NYC.

Its not like he NEVER went back. I think by the time the kids got to High School he DID go back. Its not like he gave it up forever.. Even Maya said in a few years. At worst Ollie put his dream on hiatus to be a father. You don't think he'd get a second shot? Hell after that speech? Maybe Ollie ran for town council.. Or mayor.

Wow, some of you really need to listen to Cat's in the Cradle by Harry Chapin. You think when people get old, they wish they had done better on their job? You think it's satisfying, at the end of your life, to look back on a job well done for your boss? People who pursue their dreams at the expense of their family and friends grow old alone and wind up wishing they had done things differently and taken care of what really matters. Best thing that could have happened to Ollie was to get out of the racket he was in and stay with his dad and his kid and his friends. He didn't get what he wanted, but he did get what made him happy.

http://thinkingoutloud-descartes.blogspot.com/

Not to mention, what the hell is wrong with wanting to give your daughter a better, way more comfortable life?

It's not about that. It's about putting your kid's needs first, always. It can mean a lot of things. In this case, it meant giving up on his dream job.