Keeping It Reel

DEATH BECOMES HER If nothing else, Lopez (with Affleck) dies gracefully in Jersey Girl

All About

Jennifer Lopez

Jersey Girl

PREMISE In Kevin Smith's ode to fatherhood, Lopez's character meets a careerist Manhattan music publicist, marries him, and tragically dies giving birth to their daughter.

LEADING MAN Ben Affleck, whose real-life romance with Lopez expired just before multiplex audiences saw her character do the same

OVERBEARING FATHER FIGURE George Carlin, the alcoholic father-in-law

HER CHARACTER'S ANCESTRY Well, she plays a woman named Gertrude Steiney (get it?), so she's, um... German?

MEMORABLE MOMENT Getting ready to attend the MTV Video Music Awards, Affleck's Ollie tells the very pregnant Gertrude not to be jealous of the skinny-model-types on the red carpet because they're ''all coked-out whores.'' She whines, ''I wanna be a coked-out whore!''

WHAT EW SAID It's a ''goopy 'well, duh' of a family drama,'' in which ''Lopez essays some graceful labor exertions, then elegantly kicks.''

J. LO'S GRADE B-

THE MOVIE C-

Read the EW Review