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Movie Review - Garden State (2004)
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(What this rating means)
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| Director: |
Zach Braff |
| Starring: |
Zach Braff and Natalie Portman |
| Rated: |
R (for sexuality, drug use, profanity) |
| Length: |
109 minutes |
| Genre: |
Drama/Comedy |
| Studio: |
Fox Searchlight |
| Website: |
Garden State |
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PLOT
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Andrew Largeman (Braff) hasn't been home in 9 years, but when his mother dies, he returns to Newark, NJ
for her funeral. While there, he must deal with his relationship with his father, the medicated existence
he's been living, and the friends he left behind. A personal journey of poignant proportions ensues.
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MS. CALI'S TAKE
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Garden State is one of those brilliantly original movies that only comes along once every year or
two (the last movie in that category that I can think of is Eternal
Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which actually gives us two movies within one year, but still...).
Zach Braff (funny, funny guy from NBC's Scrubs) wrote and directed this film, and in doing so shows
a large range of talent for the craft. He manages to be both poignant and funny at the same time, while
giving us an intelligent look at the process of self-discovery.
This film could easily have been generic. We've all seen "personal discovery" movies time and again, and
after a while they start to feel old. And then Braff comes along with a completely refreshing take on the
subject.
I will admit, there were a few moments where I wasn't quite sure if I liked the movie. Some moments
seemed out of place to me, not knowing where he was going with them, but Braff manages to pull everything
together so neatly at the end that I can't even remember which moments those were.
This is one of those movies that you'll see and immediately want to rush out and buy the soundtrack.
Good luck with that - we checked three different places the same night, and five the next day before
finding a Tower Records that wasn't sold out (but only because they had just gotten their shipment in).
It was well worth the search though. (Don't ask me who any of the groups or songs are, because I've
never heard most of them before this movie, and I'm completely out of touch with music these days!)
As the writer and director, it would have been very easy for Braff to overshadow the rest of the cast,
but he plays the starring role with brilliant subtlety. While it's clear that he's the star and the movie
is about him, he lets everyone else have their shining moments. And nobody shines brighter than Natalie
Portman, who completely redeems herself for starring in that cinematic crap that George Lucas has been
peddling these days. These are the two big stars of the film, although I think the motorcycle Largeman's
grandfather left to him (an awesome WWII era cycle with a sidecar) outshines everything... but that's just
my love of cool historical stuff like that talking.
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ODDS & ENDS
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- Zach Braff is really funny on Scrubs.
- Such Great Heights, originally sung by Postal Service, and slowed down for the soundtrack by Iron and
Silk, is the song Ms. Cali actually knew (and really likes) from this movie. Of course, Ms. Cali couldn't
remember that was the song she liked (or any of the other details such as the title, the group, etc.) and
had to bug her boyfriend at work to write this bit.
- Ms. Cali is actually writing this whole review at work.
- Random six degrees of Josh Brolin (or, if you will, Mr. Diane Lane) - Since Johnny is making every
reviewer do this now, I'm just going to have to be more and more obscure with the people I pick: Yvette
Mercedes (Neurology Receptionist) was in Sweet and Lowdown with Woody Allen, who cast Josh Brolin
in his newest film, Melinda and Melinda, which is currently in post-production. And I would like
to point out that I did that in only TWO degrees!
- Ms. Cali really wanted to use the Yvette Mercedes movie Vampire Vixens from Venus (no really!), but
couldn't find anything leading from that to Josh Brolin. Thus, a challenge to all the faithful readers out
there...
- Johnny Betts answers the challenge! Yvette Mercedes was in Vampire Vixens from Venus with Andrew
Rose who was in Campfire Tales with Ron Livingston who was in Office Space with Stephen Root
who was in an episode of The Young Riders (Bad Company) with Josh Brolin who was in The Hollow
Man with Kevin Bacon.
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MAMA'S APPROVAL
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This is definitely not a film Mama would like, and I wouldn't recommend it for teens either. Drug use is
a common subject, which leads to sexual situations (no nudity though), and the "f" word is used a LOT.
If any of this offends you, you'll want to avoid this film.
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TRAILER COMPARISON
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If you think the trailer looks intriguing, you'll be happy with the movie. I don't think the trailer
really tells us how funny the movie is, but other than that, it basically captures the feel of the
movie pretty well.
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THE GIST
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If you are looking for an original, well-written, funny, and intelligent film, you can't go wrong with
Garden State!
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