# A "Gigli" question
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-gigli-question/668364
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [September 9, 2013, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-gigli-question/668364 "2013-09-09T00:02:06Z")
**Posts on this page:** 12
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2013, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-gigli-question/668364/1 "2013-09-09T00:02:06Z")
How many people, besides me, thought Gigli of the movie was Jennifer Lopez’s character’s name?
Obviously I’ve never seen the movie, just read references to how bad it is.
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### Author:  [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2013, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-gigli-question/668364/2 "2013-09-09T02:05:46Z")
I’ve never seen it. I guess I assumed it was the character’s name but I haven’t thought about it in a long time.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2013, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-gigli-question/668364/3 "2013-09-09T06:00:00Z")
For the record, Larry Gigli is the name of Ben Affleck’s character. Jennifer Lopez’s character is named Ricki (short for Rochelle).
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### Author:  [@blindboyard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blindboyard)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2013, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-gigli-question/668364/4 "2013-09-09T10:11:47Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#):
>
> For the record, Larry Gigli is the name of Ben Affleck’s character. Jennifer Lopez’s character is named Ricki (short for Rochelle).
Rock-el? Dwayne Johnson for Superman!
I’d heard this film was very bad, so a bit ago I watched it. I was expecting it to be Plan 9 From Outer Space bad, but it was just completely unremarkable. It was bad, but doesn’t deserve all the attention it gets for being bad.
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### Author:  [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2013, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-gigli-question/668364/5 "2013-09-09T14:20:03Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#):
>
> For the record, Larry Gigli is the name of Ben Affleck’s character. Jennifer Lopez’s character is named Ricki (short for Rochelle).
The the poorly posed question was: did anyone but me assume “Gigli” was _her_ name, only to find out years later it was his name?
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### Author:  [@KayLovesPurple](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KayLovesPurple)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2013, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-gigli-question/668364/6 "2013-09-09T14:23:39Z")
Yup, me.
And I even saw that movie at the time and, looking back, I still think that Gigli was J.Lo’s character 🙂
I wonder how this misconception started.
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### Author:  [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2013, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-gigli-question/668364/7 "2013-09-09T15:22:45Z")
Perhaps appropriately, it just reminded me of [brain surgery implements](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gigli_saw).
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### Author:  [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2013, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-gigli-question/668364/8 "2013-09-09T15:32:47Z")
> [@blindboyard](#):
>
> I’d heard this film was very bad, so a bit ago I watched it. I was expecting it to be Plan 9 From Outer Space bad, but it was just completely unremarkable. It was bad, but doesn’t deserve all the attention it gets for being bad.
I fully agree- it’s an ORDINARY bad movie, not a bad movie for the ages.
I’ve said many times, the reaction to\*\*\* Gigli \*\*\*had less to do with the movie’s quality than with the fact that people at the time were just SICK of hearing about Ben and J. Lo.
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### Author:  [@Cartoonacy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartoonacy)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2013, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-gigli-question/668364/9 "2013-09-09T18:28:08Z")
Hey, there are still lots of people who think that Peter Sellers played the Pink Panther, William Powell played the Thin Man, and Frankenstein was the monster.
(BTW, just in case you’re among them: the Pink Panther was a stolen diamond that Inspector Clouseau (Peter Sellers) tried to recover; the Thin Man was a murder victim whose death Nick Charles (William Powell) investigated; and Frankenstein was the monster’s creator.)
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### Author:  [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2013, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-gigli-question/668364/10 "2013-09-09T19:38:21Z")
I never saw the movie, but I knew Gigli was B.Fleck’s character’s name. I think there was a promotional clip at some point where J.Lo’s character mocks him for being named “jiggly” or something and that’s where I learned it from.
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### Author:  [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2013, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-gigli-question/668364/11 "2013-09-09T20:34:27Z")
> [@blindboyard](#):
>
> Rock-el?
RO-shell.
As in _[Rochelle, Rochelle](http://www.11points.com/TV/11_Fake_Movies_From_Seinfeld_That_Really_Need_To_Be_Made)_.
(I actually made out with a Rochelle once at a skating rink. We got asked to knock it off or leave. Unfortunately, she chose the former.)
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### Author:  [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2013, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-gigli-question/668364/12 "2013-09-09T20:39:03Z")
[Roger Ebert sort of liked it.](http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/gigli-2003) Enough to give it two & a half stars anyway…