Garden State
 

I caught a matinee screening of Garden State over the weekend. It's the writer and directorial debut of Zach Braff (better know as JD on Scrubs). The movie, which screened at Sundance, is story of Andrew Largeman (Braff), a mildly successful actor in Los Angeles, who travels home to New Jersey for his mother's funeral.

Largeman spends his entire life in a lithium-induced haze (prescribed by his psychiatrist father), and has no emotional response to anything in his life. When he arrives back in New Jersey he encounters Mark (Peter Sarsgaard), a friend from high school, who is working in the cemetary where his mother is being buried. After the wake, he joins his friends at a party where they spend the night drinking and eating extasy. The wake and party scenes are brilliantly made to show how distant Large is from real life.

It's not until he meets Samantha (Natalie Portman) in the waiting room of a doctor's office until he starts to show some signs of emotion. But, it's not until Large's friend Mark (Peter Sarsgaard) takes Sam and Large on a seemingly pointless journey through New Jersey that Large starts to break out of his shell. Back in his parent's house with Sam he finally experiences the emotions he's had bottled up inside himself since a tragic accident when he was a little kid, and finally confronts his father (Sir Ian Holm) on how he feels.

I know the movie sounds kinda depressing, but it's really not. In fact, it's rather funny at times, and quite good. The acting is excellent, and the main characters are well developed, and you feel some attachment to all of them. Beyond just the acting, the soundtrack works very well with the movie, and features some great music by The Shins and ColdPlay.

My only complaint about the movie is that ending seems tacked on, and not in the same tone as the rest of the movie (which unfortunately, makes the ending kinda predicatable). But, from what I've read, it's not Braff's original ending, but instead one that Fox Searchlight pushed for.

I saw the movie at one of my local arthouse theaters, so I don't know if it has any mainstream distribution. But, you should definitely check out this movie. It far exceeded my expectations, and was definitely one of those great independent releases that will probably go unnoticed by most of the movie going public.

Im looking forward to seeing this one. It doesnt open here for another week or so, but Ill be there to see it when it does. Glad to hear that its good; disappointed to hear that the ending wasnt up to snuff.

It came out for us in the southeast today and I'll be watching it tomorrow night with my girlfriend.

From what I heard, everyone who thought the movie sucked were those who were expecting Braff to be playing a character similar to his JD character in SCRUBS. I can't wait to see it.

Excellent movie.

I saw it with a friend and we both loved it. It's very well done, and doesn't try to do too much.

The soundtrack is also incredible.

I'll have to agree... I loved it. I wasn't sure if it was playing in my area, but when I told my gf that it was playing, we set a date and went. We both loved it. Good stuff from pretty much every damned actor/actress in it. :)

I saw this movie a few days ago and absolutely loved it. Me and the two people I was with couldn't stop talking about it for the rest of the night. I was very impressed with Natalie Portman's performance in the film as well. The Star Wars trilogy doesn't do her acting justice.

I do have to agree with you about the ending though. It was too cliched. If that movie had ended 1 minute earlier and left us wondering, I would have been much happier.

It started out interesting and even funny, but got pretty boring. My wife got mad at me because I said I didn't like it.

I liked it... Natalie is HAWT

Okay, so I was wrong. According to Zach Braff's Blog that is the ending he wanted. I liked the idea of Fox Searchlight ruining the ending of an otherwise wonderful movie, instead of it being cliched writing.

Oh well.

another "loved it" from me -- i thought the movie was funny, touching and very true to life. does anyone know how much (if any of it) is autobiographical? i've hear a couple of interviews with Braff (props to my homies at NPR) and he seems to imply that much of it is based on his life

espi, thanks for the link to ZB's blog... that's awesome! ;)

yeah, i've gotta say... definitely liked it.

Really liked the movie, my friends from California... not so much. But to me, it definitely brought up memories of my halcyon years in Ocean County.

saw this a couple weeks ago and liked it very much. i think the reason i liked it most of all was that it got me excited to see what this guy has next. this movie is the kind of starter most beginning directors dream of. braff has so much potential. only complaints with the movie were the odd plot detours that really didnt add to the theme and left me wondering. i thought the ending was good, i mean i got an awkward feel from it but thats what they were going for, what with braff's character just getting out of his "coma". how sincere can you expect him to be? :P

I thought it was a great movie. I saw it with my gf and she agreed. It was really good

I thought it was a great movie, a really good movie to see on a date. What was the purpose of going through that day long journey? Did the guy make the gift up just so he could spend the day with Largeman?

I loved this movie. It amazes me that this was his first film. Natatlie Portman was a perfect cast for that character, she is extremely talented as well as hot!! Not sure if Zach can pull off anything nearly as good to follow up, but this film alone makes his career.

been a while since anyone has posted in this thread but I just now managed to get myself to a small theater still showing it and watch it.

I loved the movie, pretty much what I was expecting except Natalie Portman's character had a lot more depth than I was expecting. Very well done.

Although I do agree that I would've found the ending more in line with the rest of the movie if it had ended one minute earlier. I mean, that was the tone of the film and while the ending was good, it seemed like a good ending for a different film, not this one.

Still though, definately enjoyable.

mrap1 - the impression I got was that he had stolen the jewelry from Largeman's mom's grave and sold it, and didn't really realize much about it till Largeman stared at him emptying another grave. Then he had to have someone track down the piece for him to get it back to him. I'm not 100% about that though, and I can easily see it just being that he had it all along and wanted to go on a journey with him for a day.

Yep, I pretty much agree with that assesment of things. I went through a similar thought process. Either Mark didn't realize he was taking jewelery from Large's mom, or he did it on purpose to arrange the trip. I think the former is probably more likely.

It's still playing at my local theaters, so maybe I'll take my discount passes over there and see if I can pick up any additional hints. Of course, The Motorcycle Diaries is playing, too. I'll probably see that instead.

I absolutely loved it. Zach Braff is ripe with talent and I expect a lot of good from him in the future. Natalie Portman was excellent, and gorgeous as usual.

"By the way...it says balls on your forehead"

its totally great. If you check out the garden state website, braff actually has a web blog you can read. Pretty sweet. The soundtrack is amazing too.

I really liked this movie. It had a couple doses of Scrubs-like humor, which I love. I also agree it had an excellent soundtrack, which I bought.
Go see it!

I'm not sure I agree with the people who are saying that the ending feels tacked on. Isn't the whole theme of the movie supposed to be about taking control of your life and making the choice to be happy? By the end of the film, Braff's character realizes this, so I actually think that an ambiguous or less-optimistic ending would have been very strange.

pun intended?

I FINALLY saw this last night... Absolutely incredible. It left me feeling so many different things, and so happy... I loved it. I cant wait to see what else Zach Braff does.

And whoa... In addition to being beautiful, Natalie Portman has some serious acting chops. I was thoroughly impressed.

my gfriend and i saw it a couple of months ago, and we both agreed it was really good. i had not even heard of it before i saw it, but am glad that i took the chance

I saw the film yesterday and liked it a lot. I kind of got excited when someone said that wasn't the ending ZB wanted, as it was a little clichéd, but if that's what he wrote, that's how it's supposed to be!

The blog is funny too....not only does the man have luscious lips, but he's humorous too....