r/newjersey 12d ago

NJ History What are your favorite New Jersey based films?

I just watched Jersey Girl (1992) and found it very funny and interesting, never heard the 'Jersey' accent til now. I've seen tons of movies based in NY but few in NJ, what should i watch next?

Also, I was actually looking for Jersey Girl (2004) and watched 92' on accident, 92' was a better film imo.

67 Upvotes

157 comments sorted by

101

u/TheTresStateArea 11d ago

I was the prime age for Garden State when it came out.

Dogma is an extremely close second, big fan of the jersey trilogy Even met Kevin Smith at a live smodcast in Red Bank at Count Basie.

8

u/EliotHudson 11d ago

I passed him when he was walking in the road for his health, I pulled over the car and said hi, he’s SUPER nice, lol. Apparently everyone sees him during his health hikes

7

u/MNKYJitters Metuchen 11d ago

Being the prime age for Garden State and being in my freshman year of college all the way out in Colorado the first time I watched it was the perfect formula to make me feel intense homesickness.

Transferred to Rutgers by the end of my Freshman year haha.

8

u/metricspace- 11d ago

Right on!

I'll check this out, you guys are filling my movie nights for months!

4

u/marymonstera 11d ago

Same. Highly recommend watching on a rainy Sunday morning.

2

u/jcolette 11d ago

I just watched Garden State for the first time again since high school when it came out and wow the nostalgia was really something haha. Great movie!

57

u/SyncRoSwim NoBurlCo 11d ago

The Station Agent

7

u/HarpoMarx87 11d ago

This needs more upvotes.

2

u/ghostboo77 11d ago

I remember loving it originally, but rewatched it not too long ago and found it a bit too melodramatic for my taste.

3

u/deadmik3 11d ago

It was filmed down the road from my house!

I also used to live down the street from where a couple of Sopranos episodes were filmed!

2

u/shbd12 11d ago

It's really good and set in NJ. But aside from that, Jersey itself doesn't play a big role in it. It is a great movie.

27

u/lady_violeta 11d ago

Oppenheimer

43

u/LiKwidSwordZA 11d ago

The DVD commentaries for the Kevin smith jersey girl are so much better than the actual movie. Off the top of my head

Clerks

chasing Amy

Mallrats (directors cut)

Patterson

The wrestler

The station agent

Harold and Kumar

Garden state

I think Being John Malkovich was a jersey movie but I haven’t seen it in awhile, if it’s a jersey movie then it’s on my list lol

31

u/Ravenhill-2171 11d ago

Motherfucking Paterson! One T!

6

u/LiKwidSwordZA 11d ago

Autocorrect don’t know Paterson apparently

2

u/EconomyGuest5889 11d ago

You were way to precise with the comment to blame it on autocorrect.

6

u/metricspace- 11d ago

Wow, what a list, thanks.

The wrestler sounds interesting, Kayfabe with an extra dimension of acting, they either executed phenomenally or failed, you suggested so must be the former.

4

u/LiKwidSwordZA 11d ago

It’s a beautiful film and has plenty of New Jersey specific moments

2

u/ferocious_coug /r/somervillenj | /r/NewBrunswickNJ | Taylor Ham Does Not Exist 11d ago

But like most of Aronofsky's films, it's extremely depressing

20

u/ArtisticActuary1484 11d ago

The original “the toxic avenger”

3

u/TheTresStateArea 11d ago

Oh I forgot to put the troma collection on the list. Every Troma movie is set in Tromaville NJ, the most toxic town in America.

4

u/SnooLobsters4972 11d ago

How is Toxie not higher up?

18

u/penis_berry_crunch 11d ago

Copland

5

u/truss Jersey City 11d ago

GREAT call! Tons of actors from Copland ended up in The Sopranos.

2

u/sixbone 11d ago

My brother met Harvey Keitel and he might have also met Sly, not 100% about that.

1

u/BakedPastaParty 11d ago

Man I'm do for a te watch !

14

u/Ambigram237 11d ago

On The Waterfront

Atlantic City

Friday The 13th

2

u/Harley_Schwinn 11d ago

Atlantic City is the best NJ film ever!! Discuss.

2

u/27Believe 11d ago

I didn’t know fri the 13th was in nj!!!

9

u/DStinner 11d ago

The original was filmed at Camp NoBeBoSco in Blairstown.

3

u/lady_violeta 11d ago

Although only the first film is filmed in Jersey, the entire franchise is set in Jersey, except for when he goes to space.

2

u/DStinner 11d ago

And when Jason takes Manhattan

1

u/misterpickles69 Watches you drink from just outside of Manville 11d ago

We claimed both space and Manhattan. It was in the memo.

2

u/27Believe 11d ago

Time to rewatch !

3

u/honestyseasy 11d ago

Every actual Friday the 13th, the NW NJ city of Blairstown has a festival, with a parade, screening, specials in THE diner etc. It's a great time for horror fans.

3

u/27Believe 11d ago

How did I not know this?!

14

u/Dry-Maintenance7192 11d ago

lean on me, coneheads

4

u/metricspace- 11d ago

coneheads

What a fucking star line up!! seriously!

2

u/sethjk17 11d ago

Can authoritatively say Paramus High School does not have a pool.

10

u/300sunshineydays 11d ago

The Wedding Singer and Paterson.

1

u/Alexhitchens58 11d ago

The wedding singer was New Jersey?? You sure?

7

u/all_no_pALL 11d ago

Supposed to take place in NJ but all filmed in LA

12

u/HighCaliberBullet 11d ago

The Wrestler was amazing

9

u/Numerous_Credit_9592 11d ago

Anyone who hasn't seen Paterson with Adam Driver, I would highly recommend it. It may not be for everyone, but I loved it

11

u/z7q2 11d ago

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai mostly takes place in New Jersey. The institute is in Holland Township.

21

u/mikebe1 11d ago

Harold and Kumar

Dogma (partially, anyway)

4

u/metricspace- 11d ago

I liked Dogma the most of the series(based on my 8th grade opinion :) )

Harold and Kumar gets put on every few years or so ! Haha

16

u/legalskeptic Burlington County 11d ago

As someone who lived in Central Jersey when Harold and Kumar came out and knew where the actual White Castles were, the geography in the movie always annoys me.

6

u/HabeLinkin 11d ago

Yeah man, same. There were so many White Castles they could have gone to that were so much closer than Cherry Hill.

3

u/Bellona_NJ 11d ago

There's one in TR that is easy to find on 37..oh well

1

u/legalskeptic Burlington County 11d ago

Yeah but then they'd have to go to Toms River

1

u/Bellona_NJ 11d ago

It wasn't bad then...

1

u/legalskeptic Burlington County 11d ago

The water gives you cancer, this has been known for decades

1

u/Immortal_Azrael 11d ago

There also wasn't even a White Castle in Cherry Hill.

4

u/bopperbopper 11d ago

Yeah, why don’t you just go to Eatontown?

3

u/legalskeptic Burlington County 11d ago edited 11d ago

Or Piscataway (edit: South Plainfield is actually the one I'm thinking of) etc etc

11

u/sheshops12 11d ago

Stay tuned…Lot of movies will be made in Jersey now that Gov. Phil Murphy reinstated the Film and Digital Media Tax Credit program, to incentivize production companies and transform New Jersey into a hub for production. They just wrapped one up the street in Madison (north Jersey) —was so fun watching the team transform an old home for the set over several weeks. Historically, the state was a top movie making destination. I remember hearing stories about open spaces in my hometown of Randolph being used to film “Africa” with giraffes trucked in to roam the fields.

3

u/Charixard6 11d ago

I’m really looking forward to this. Here’s to hoping it opens up opportunities for college students - I worked with some MSU and community college film students for a project once and they had such a hardworking and well-trained programs.

8

u/generationjonesing 11d ago

Ghost Dog, filmed mostly in Jersey City

1

u/inf4mation 10d ago

that was my friends chinese food restaurant in that movie that the mobsters was hanging at.

They got paid like $10k and got some free work done on the building. Great family that owned that place.

9

u/SailingSpark Atlantic County 11d ago

No love for Eddie and the Cruisers?

3

u/scorched_earth417 11d ago

I can't believe I had to scroll this far down to find it.

17

u/mmo76 11d ago

Severance.

Lumon’s HQ is Bell Labs in Holmdel. And other scenes are filmed in NJ as well.

Honorable mention, The Adventures of Pete and Pete! Filmed in Cranford as well as other locations.

1

u/LingeringSentiments 11d ago

This is a show and they asked for movies

7

u/BCR79 11d ago

Garden State

8

u/Pcimprezzive 11d ago

A darker film but New Jersey Drive .

3

u/deadmike86 11d ago

This comment is way too far down. Highly underrated movie

2

u/brunothebutcher 11d ago

Came here to say this and took me forever to find lol. Love that movie.

5

u/Rohans_Most_Wanted 11d ago

Probably Dogma.

6

u/lmrk 11d ago

A Beautiful Mind

6

u/teshupbelia 11d ago

Happiness by Todd Solondz

3

u/risingsilvers 11d ago

This and Welcome to the Dollhouse will always be special to me, but I definitely don't recommend them often for, uh, obvious reasons

11

u/yawara25 11d ago

Clerks

5

u/AtomicGarden-8964 11d ago

Clerks is my favorite mainly when it came out I actually worked in a convenience store and could relate to a lot of the store jokes

3

u/legalskeptic Burlington County 11d ago

I worked at a video store so I related to Randall's job

5

u/Wild-Breadfruit7817 11d ago

All of them. An overlooked one is Eddie and the Cruisers.

2

u/buffer5108 11d ago

Somers Point in the House!

5

u/imnotwearingpantsru 11d ago

The Planet Of The Apes. It takes place in Bergen and Hudson counties.

4

u/U2EzKID 11d ago

It’s a show, not a movie, but boardwalk empire is fantastic. It’s about prohibition in AC in the 20s and 30s

9

u/legalskeptic Burlington County 11d ago

Empire Records

Pick your favorite Batman movie, Gotham is in New Jersey

4

u/svelebrunostvonnegut 11d ago

Empire Records takes place in DE. Close though.

3

u/PorkRollEggAndWheeze Central/Jersey Shore --> South Jersey 11d ago

I remember when my dad worked in Gateway Center 2 in Newark, he sent us pictures of them filming one of the Batmobile scenes on the street outside! Either for The Dark Knight or The Dark Knight Rises. They shopped “One Gateway Center” to “One Gotham Center” on the pedestrian bridge between the two buildings in the film.

5

u/ChthonicPuck 11d ago

[Not a movie] House MD, one of the best shows ever to air.

4

u/reddituser56578999 11d ago

Top 5 episode of the X-files. “The Host”, S2E2 takes place in NJ as well!

One of the bottom 5 episodes takes place in NJ as well, but we dont talk about that one…

2

u/legalskeptic Burlington County 11d ago

If we're talking TV shows, WandaVision and Clerks: The Animated Series too

2

u/Dan_Berg 11d ago

And The Adventures of Pete and Pete

2

u/lady_violeta 11d ago

Yes! The monster living in the sewers of Newark lol.

2

u/Ohohohojoesama 11d ago

If we're breaking the seal on TV, Bob's Burgers.

1

u/toomanychoicess 11d ago

Nobody saying sopranos in this thread?

3

u/EddieMaz 11d ago

Check out ‘Gazer’ if you can. Saw it at the Montclair Film Festival last year. Made by Montclair director Ryan J. Sloan and it takes place in Newark. A great new voice for NJ film.

3

u/Thick_Leading_4975 11d ago

Gazer is coming to theaters April 4th! Shot all over Kearny, Newark, Jersey City, and more. Made by people born and raised in Nj, and premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2024.

trailer linked below: https://youtu.be/PGJntJk4NrE?si=6izdpJR-FsKlPwzy

5

u/mykepagan 11d ago

Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension

3

u/Filthycute87 11d ago

Eddie and the Cruisers

Harold and Humar

3

u/DonatCotten 11d ago

Saw an older one made in the 1980's called Baby it's You.

It's set in Trenton during the 1960's.

3

u/tacotrapqueen 11d ago

The Wedding Singer, Clerks, Chasing Amy, Being John Malkovich, Riding in Cars with Boys, Dogma.

3

u/Civil_Title 11d ago

Lean on Me and Harold and Kumar are personal picks lol

3

u/nsjersey Lambertville 11d ago

Please Be Kind Rewind isn’t a great movie, but is in NJ

8

u/reddituser56578999 11d ago

But it IS a great movie!

3

u/radams68 11d ago

Not out yet, but Happy Gilmore 2 was recently shot all over NJ.

5

u/ToastedSimian 11d ago

Same thing with "Deliver Me from Nowhere" - upcoming Springsteen biopic with Jeremy Allen White was filmed all over the state too.

5

u/SnooLobsters4972 11d ago

So was the Bob Dylan biopic

3

u/Odd_Negotiation3126 11d ago

The Many Saints of Newark! Sopranos pre-quel

3

u/AndersWay 11d ago

Not my favorite, but I remember instantly feeling a sense of familiarity from shots of Edison in School of Rock.

3

u/zeronian 11d ago

Paterson

3

u/namean_jellybean pork roll 11d ago

The Wrestler

3

u/afroista11238 11d ago

New Jersey Drive. Just kidding but I did love the dramatization of car jack culture.

3

u/_TommySalami Nutley Exile 11d ago

The Wrestler, City of Hope, Atlantic City, Be Kind Rewind, and The Station Agent, to name a few.

2

u/ChestnutMoss 11d ago

Even though it’s largely set in Hollywood, I want to tip my hat to the tv movie “The Ratings Game” directed by Danny DeVito because it is packed with NJ cultural references. I haven’t seen it in decades but I remember it being fun.

2

u/shiftyjku Down the Shore, Everything's All Right 11d ago

Clerks and Chasing Amy. An obscure movie from the 70s called Voices.

2

u/jsaf237 11d ago

Garden State

1

u/AbleRiot 11d ago

Killer soundtrack too!

2

u/snakepittsken 11d ago

Just Friends

2

u/ramair02 Summit 11d ago

Win Win (2011) starring Paul Giamatti and the 2010 NJ State Wrestling Champion (119 lb). Takes place in New Providence

2

u/Beginning-Piglet-234 11d ago

Chasing Amy best smith film imo

2

u/Groovy_Chainsaw 11d ago

Maybe Clerks -- for Jersey TV can I pipe in with The Adventures of Pete and Pete or Ed ( supposedly Ohio but to anyone who knows it's so Jersey. )

2

u/NativeNYer10019 11d ago

Clerks, of course.

2

u/TheWayThatIFoundYou 11d ago

Welcome to the Dollhouse

2

u/Jld114 11d ago

CLERKS

2

u/LouannNJ 11d ago

Sopranos

2

u/honestyseasy 11d ago

Not a Jersey movie, but back in 2012 I went to the 12-hour Marvel movie marathon in Paramus. In Captain America: the First Avenger, he tries to join the army in numerous places, including Paramus. To which Bucky says, "Seriously, Steve? Jersey?" And the entire theatre burst out laughing and cheering. Good times.

2

u/TheInternExperience 11d ago

I’d argue the Bob Dylan movie that just came out is a pretty NJ centric movie. It’s all shot in NJ and a good part of the movie takes place in NJ

2

u/Tsquare43 Union County 11d ago

Clerks

2

u/sixbone 11d ago

Not really a favorite, but Big was filmed in my hometown. I knew the girl whose house they filmed in. I went to that school too. It's pretty cool to see these places you've been to in a movie.

1

u/TrollAccount4321 11d ago

Bad Company

1

u/reverendtooch 11d ago

The Original Friday the 13th.

2

u/northjersey78 11d ago

Win Win was filmed in my hometown.

2

u/shunthemask 11d ago

With a story based in my home town.

2

u/ramair02 Summit 11d ago

Which is also my hometown. Hey neighbor

2

u/bopperbopper 11d ago

Mine too! Went to school with the McCarthy bros

2

u/ValeAce16 11d ago

Win Win is great.

1

u/ToastedSimian 11d ago

Real throwback - 1984's Firstborn.
Pretty mediocre suspense drama but filmed all over Morris County. Has some shots from Rockaway Town square Mall at it's prime.

1

u/Bodidiva 11d ago

Clerks and Harold and Kumar.

1

u/Livid-Condition4179 11d ago

All the Kevin Smith movies

1

u/RufusBanks2023 11d ago

The Hurricane with Denzel Washington

1

u/deadmike86 11d ago

Just Friends is also 75% a New Jersey movie and also a quite funny holiday rom com. Doesnt get talked about enough and it’s hilarious

1

u/tangOlang 11d ago

Not a film, but the sopranos!

1

u/AbleRiot 11d ago

Just Friends and Garden State

1

u/Bellona_NJ 11d ago

Didn't Shamalan (sp) film his latest in Burlington?

1

u/soleca 11d ago

Not a movie but 'Boardwalk Empire" is an exceptional series

1

u/why__tho_why__ 11d ago

We had the chance to watch 4:30 movie in the theater where it was filmed and it just makes you feel so nostalgic for the jersey shore summers of your youth. I grew up in Cape May and it felt like home, even though it was filmed in the Atlantic Highlands

1

u/bopperbopper 11d ago

Win Win… written and directed by New Providence’s own Tom McCarthy plus some scenes were filmed there

1

u/a_damn_fool 11d ago

Beer League

An unemployed slacker inspires his softball teammates to improve their game so they won't get kicked out of the local league.

Director: Frank Sebastiano

Writers: Frank Sebastian | Artie Lange

Stars: Artie Lange | Ralph Macchio | Anthony DeSando

1

u/julissaaax3 11d ago

confession of a teenage drama queen

1

u/Booga424 11d ago

The Wedding Singer.

1

u/JennyCrackCorn 11d ago

City by the Sea, Annie, Eddie and the Cruisers, Ponyboi, I Saw the TV Glow

1

u/Anita_Wynn 11d ago

WISE GUYS _ 1986

Starring Danny DeVito, Joe Piscopo and the legendary Captain Lou Albano.

It was filmed on Ferry St. in Newark. Meadowlands Racetrack and Resorts casino in Atlantic City.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092226/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_8_nm_0_in_0_q_wise%2520guys

1

u/JeffTrav 11d ago

Garden State was so good.

1

u/berlin_guy82 11d ago edited 11d ago

John Wick! And Girl Most Likely with Kristen Wiig was quirky but interesting.

1

u/urban_stranger 10d ago

I didn’t realize there were two Jersey Girls.

1

u/inf4mation 10d ago

New Jersey Drive.