If there is any justice in movieland, then the stench of the Bennifer era and Gigli should finally fade away. In its place, like a fresh summer breeze wafting in from an expected place, there is Kevin Smith's charmer Jersey Girl.

Ben Affleck is the star and Jennifer Lopez does appear on screen, ironically as the love-of-his-life. But -- oh joy! -- after a whirlwind courtship and marriage, she dies in childbirth in the movie's prologue. I don't mean to be cruel but I am talking about film structure here and not a real life tragedy. It is good to get Lopez off screen and let Affleck get on with acting.

The Lopez part is a prologue. The real story in Smith's movie is how an immature, Manhattan-loving, celebrity publicist -- that would be Affleck's character -- learns to grow up and be a real dad to his motherless daughter (played at seven by spunky Lopez lookalike Raquel Castro).

There is also a crucial father-son element. After demolishing his own career in a spectacular burn-out, Affleck's jerk moves back to his Jersey home.

There he must suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous wit aimed at him by his widower dad, played wonderfully by acid-tongued comic George Carlin. Our conflicted hero also sees a flicker of light in his romantic life in the shapely form of the ballsy video store clerk played so guilelessly by Liv Tyler. (She combines two of Smith's preoccupations: video/DVD venues and empowered, sexy smart women.)

Emotionally, Jersey Girl is a big ball of mush -- and I love it for Smith's willingness to be sentimental about fatherhood. I mean the "fatherhood" that is present in both the father-daughter relationship of Affleck and Castro and the father-son adult relationship represented by Carlin and Affleck.

Some of writer-director Smith's hardcore fans might be upset. A lot of his best films, from Clerks to Dogma and Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back, trade on profanity, extreme satire and absurd situations.

All of that is toned down in Jersey Girl, although, as in the relatively tame Chasing Amy, Smith's voice still permeates conversations. People talk a lot in a Smith movie and the filmmaker's sensibilities are buried inside all the major characters.

Incidentally, both Jay and Silent Bob are absent from this flick -- they don't even show up in a cameo. No great loss.

If Jersey Girl is soft, by Smith's standards, it is not just a string of cliches. Even when following a story arc that could just as well be found in a conventional Hollywood movie, Smith twists things just enough to make the experience seem unique and new. That is a nice trick in an almost-mainstream movie -- yet Smith can still maintain he did not sell out.

The challenge, however, is getting the public to believe that Jersey Girl stands on its own, separate from the Razzie-winning Gigli, free from the legacy that is Bennifer. Give the girl a break.

(This film is rated 14-A)

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