Garden State is an entertaining and downright visually stunning piece of film-making by Zach Braff. It is both painfully sad and hysterical, and overly melodramatic cheesiness is always interrupted at the perfect time by comic relief, usually delivered by Natalie Portman's character. And, as other users have noted, it does speak to my generation; as a 24-year-old I am at that stage where home is no longer the same, and there's an abyss in front of me that I'm terrified to face since I have no idea what's in it.
With that said, Garden State's screenplay is flawed to the point of being patronizing. The movie succeeds and has been so well-received because it plays off the emotions and experiences of all 20-somethings, but it does so with a great deal of half-hearted philosophizing that tries way too hard to make a point about life that just isn't insightful. Yeah, life is hard, but you're off your drugs, you're in love, and, aside from your mother dying, you really don't have any problems. You're in your 20's, and there's lots to figure out but it will happen in time, so stop obsessing over it! And the end, my God, the end! Without giving anything away, the ending of this movie is the worst kind of forced dramatic tension and predictably melodramatic resolution when there is just no dramatic tension coming from the story itself. We know that Andrew Largeman has a flight back to LA that he has to get on, but why is it such a big deal for him to go back to LA? Is his life there really so important that he can't stay in NJ with Sam? There is just no dramatic energy to create the tension that the character seems to be facing; it just comes out of nowhere as a vehicle for Largeman to spout off some final words of quasi-philosophical self-evident baloney. His life is not that bad, and the decision is not as hard as Braff wants it to be.
So, this movie gets a 5 from me. It is beautiful, the acting is superb, and it does speak to me. But it tries way too hard and the plot and drama ultimately fail to deliver.
With that said, Garden State's screenplay is flawed to the point of being patronizing. The movie succeeds and has been so well-received because it plays off the emotions and experiences of all 20-somethings, but it does so with a great deal of half-hearted philosophizing that tries way too hard to make a point about life that just isn't insightful. Yeah, life is hard, but you're off your drugs, you're in love, and, aside from your mother dying, you really don't have any problems. You're in your 20's, and there's lots to figure out but it will happen in time, so stop obsessing over it! And the end, my God, the end! Without giving anything away, the ending of this movie is the worst kind of forced dramatic tension and predictably melodramatic resolution when there is just no dramatic tension coming from the story itself. We know that Andrew Largeman has a flight back to LA that he has to get on, but why is it such a big deal for him to go back to LA? Is his life there really so important that he can't stay in NJ with Sam? There is just no dramatic energy to create the tension that the character seems to be facing; it just comes out of nowhere as a vehicle for Largeman to spout off some final words of quasi-philosophical self-evident baloney. His life is not that bad, and the decision is not as hard as Braff wants it to be.
So, this movie gets a 5 from me. It is beautiful, the acting is superb, and it does speak to me. But it tries way too hard and the plot and drama ultimately fail to deliver.