Jennifer Lopez Still Thought ‘Gigli’ Was ‘Genius’ After it Flopped

Jennifer Lopez's worst reviewed film is 'Gigli.' Here's why she still defended it after it failed with critics and audiences.

Gigli has been one of the biggest failures of Jennifer Lopez’s career. It went over poorly with critics and general audiences alike. Still, Lopez didn’t let the negative reaction to the film change her opinion of it. She believed parts of it were “genius” and would eventually win audiences over.

Jennifer Lopez was still proud of ‘Gigli’ after its critical and financial failure

After Gigli’s release and box office failure, Lopez was asked how she felt about some of the film’s more ridiculed lines, such as “It’s turkey time-gobble, gobble.” She defended them.

“It’s genius! Look, I thought it was risky, but I also felt it was juicy,” she told W Magazine. “It was tough stuff to work with.”

She also felt that some of the criticism the film received was ridiculous. She didn’t understand how people could claim there was a lack of chemistry between herself and Affleck when they were falling in love behind the scenes.

“People are saying there was no chemistry,” she said. “That’s insane! There’s crazy chemistry! Look, I’m tougher on myself than any critic can ever be. The movie had places where it didn’t work, and that’s fine. Review that. But don’t just be an a** to be an a**, you know?”

She believed that the film would find an appreciative audience when it hit cable.

“I really think it will have a resurgence on cable!” she said. “Now people may look at me and say, ‘She’s totally off her f***ing rocker,’ but hey, that’s my theory.”

Jennifer Lopez believed her personal life led to ‘Gigli’ failing at the box office

Ahead of the film’s release, Lopez began to worry that her high-profile relationship with co-star Ben Affleck would cause problems for it.

“I kept warning my mom,” she said. “I said, ‘Mom, we’re gonna get killed.’”

She believed the film’s performance at the box office proved her right. People were consuming stories about her every day and didn’t want to go to the theater to see more of her.

“Literally, there’s someone shooting into my house with cameras,” she said. “I go out, and I’m going to be followed by six cars. All day long. You say to yourself, ‘It will pass. This is not who I really am.’ But you’re a person, and it hurts. But if you’re in the paper every damn day, people are like, ‘Who cares?’ And then nobody goes to see your movie! It’s like, ‘Why should we? We see her every day,’ and then you’re like, ‘Wait a minute! That’s the only reason I’m doing this!’”

Ben Affleck said the movie was never going to work

While Lopez continued to defend Gigli, Affleck didn’t think the movie worked. He agreed that his relationship with Lopez didn’t do much to help it, but he thought it had many problems beyond this.

“[Gigli] didn’t work and we did five weeks of reshoots, which we knew were not gonna work,” he told Entertainment Weekly. “It was a movie that didn’t work …”

Still, Affleck said he learned a great deal from his experience on the film.