An interesting film written, directed and starring Zach Braff (TV's Scrubs), "Garden State" is about a young man named Andrew, who is returning home to New Jersey for the funeral of his mother. He hasn't seen his family since his father sent him to boarding school at the age of 16.

This is a nice movie, but I am going to go against popular theory here and not give a great review. I found it to be a little slow at times, and conflict between father and son never developed the way the story was indicating it would be. However, it is a fine movie, and I do recommend watching it.

Braff does a nice job of setting the story and showing the inner conflict on Andrew's character. Watching Braff get reacquainted with his friends, whom he hasn't seen in eight years, is interesting; watching the turmoil his character has realizing his friends haven't grown up and probably never will. He also introduces Sam, who has a problem with telling the truth and epilepsy. They notice each other's pain and quickly bond. The story develops their relationship nicely and, for a movie, is quite believable.

Zach Braff does a nice job as Andrew. He shows depth of character, and his acting reminded me of a few people I know who speak volumes by not speaking at all. Natalie Portman (Leon: The Professional) also does a nice job showing the pain of the character Sam. However, it is with this character where I feel the writer, Braff, makes a mistake.

I am never quite positive why Sam is so depressed, and why she is such a liar. I feel it's never communicated what other emotional problems she may have which forces her to be so unsure. If it is the epilepsy, and the embarrassment those who have it may feel during a seizure--I am only throwing this out as a guess, it is never conveyed in the story. Because of this, I feel scenes between Andrew and Sam tend to drag at parts.

The other issue I have is the conflict between Andrew and his father, Gideon, played by Ian Holm (Lord of the Rings trilogy), never comes to a serious climax. The story is well written and pushes us toward a climatic confrontation/resolution between estranged father and son, but the end is very anti-climatic. I don't feel happy or mad at its outcome. The story just seemed to indicate there would be more than what happened. This could have been done better.

I feel the acting was quite good. This is the first I have seen of Braff, and he by far did the best job on a well written character. Portman did a nice job on a weakly written character. However, I feel bad for her, because her first movie was so outstanding, being "Leon: The Professional," which I wonder if she will ever be given a part as well written as Matilda. For her sake, I hope it happens.

Ian Holm was hardly in the movie, so it's hard to say how good he did. He was there, and he has always been a fine actor. The other actor of note is Peter Sarsgaard (Kinsey), who plays Andrew's childhood friend Mark, who seems destined for a boring, unproductive life and is content at achieving that goal.

Overall, I like the movie. It's just not good as I hoped it would be. It's an enjoyable character study, but it has a few holes.

Brian - the Naked Gun