Garden State

Zach Braff, the writer, director and star of 2004's independent sleeper hit Garden State said he wanted to make a 20-something comedy about real 20-somethings. He succeeded---sort of.

Who is Zach Braff?

Braff, best known as the daydreaming wanna-be stud doctor on N-B-C's Scrubs is Hollywood's latest triple threat. And if Garden State is representative of what we can expect in the future, a best director Oscar can't be far behind.

Why the Scrubs star made write GardenState

During an interview with when the movie was first released in 2004, he said, "I was disillusioned with the standard fare of movies directed to the 20-something crowd and wanted to make a movie that more closely resembled what that demographic is going through: new jobs, new relationships, weird friends and clueless parents."After seeing the movie at a screening and again recently on DVD, I'd say he succeeded.

What Garden State is About

Braff plays Andrew Largeman, a 27-year-old semi-successful actor who returns home to New Jersey for his mother's funeral. During the homecoming, Large (as all his hometown friends call him) decides to go off the medication he has been on his whole life. In so doing, he discovers a whole new world.

He meets up with two of his high school friends at his mother's funeral. They are working as gravediggers. They invite him to the party of another, recently wealthy, high school friend and a series of weird occurrences gets underway. Large spends four days coming out of his shell, meeting a girl (played with surprising truthfulness by Natalie Portman), playing dodge the flaming arrow, and dealing with an aunt who makes him clothes made out of wallpaper.

As the weekend trip progresses, Large discovers why he has not returned home in nine years and is finally forced to deal with his misguided psychiatrist father. With the help of his new girlfriend, who appears to have psychological problems of her own, Large slowly returns to the real world.

My Opinion on this oft Overlooked Flick

Braff could not have hired a better cast for his first foray into directing if he had the clout of Steven Spielberg. Natalie Portman escapes the dry dialogue of Star Wars and proves she can really act. The cuteness factor Portman brings to the part of Braff's girlfriend counteracts the fact that her character is a chronic liar.

So if you want to hear what all of the fuss is about, and you're tired of the cookie-cutter, blockbuster mentality of Hollywood, go see this little movie from the GardenState. It's as far away from the in-your-face, product placement "commercials" that are today's movies that you might actually come out of the theater smiling.