Garden
State
Starring: Zach Braff, Natalie Portman
Written and Directed by: Zach Braff
Rating: 4 (out of 5)
Visit the official website here!
Orson Welles was 26 years old when he co-wrote, directed, and starred in Citizen Kane, widely considered to be one of the best movies ever made. Not bad for a kid.
Of course, it also contains one of the biggest movie goofs of all time. At the beginning, Kane dies ALONE IN HIS ROOM, yet through the entire movie, we're told that his dying word was "Rosebud". Interesting, considering there wasn't anyone there to hear it. (This little factoid has been debated a lot over the years, and many people will attempt to prove that there WAS someone there. Ignore them…that's what I do. It makes for a more entertaining anecdote.)
Now, Zach Braff is no Orson Welles. For starters, he's 3 years OLDER than Welles was when he made Kane. And, well, Garden State is no Citizen Kane. But it's still damn good…as first time writer-director, Braff has made a movie that's better than most of the crap at the Multiplex. Unfortunately, it's not in wide release, so most of you won't get a chance to see it.
"Orson WHO?"
As the movie opens, we meet Andrew Largeman (Braff). He's sitting blissfully calm on an airplane as all hell is breaking loose around him. I have to say, I admire his pluck…keeping cool in the face of adversity. But, then again, maybe the fact that the in-flight movie is Catwoman just isn't as catastrophic to him as it is to his fellow passengers.
Anyhow, it doesn't matter, as it turns out to be a dream sequence. Back in the real world, his father is phoning, but he's just lying in bed listening to the message…much like I do when Bossman calls me to tell me that I was supposed to be at work "three hours ago". You get the sense that Andrew and his dad don't do a lot of communicating. On the plus side, dad IS thoughtful enough to call Andrew and tell him that his mother is dead. So that's nice of him.
Andrew seems to take the news pretty well. Then again, we soon realize that Andrew's medicine cabinet looks like Robert Downey Jr., Courtney Love, and Axl Rose have decided to all get a house together. He's on a LOT of antidepressants. So he drifts through life in a perpetual medical haze, almost incapable of experiencing any actual emotion.
Somebody has to do something about the biker gangs in this town...
But the thing is, Andrew is also an actor. You'd think that heroic intake of antidepressants would be a hindrance in a career that involves having to emote. But hey, Edward Burns and Keanu Reeves are both big stars, so obviously you can get by just fine.
This might also be why Andrew isn't currently EMPLOYED as an actor. Instead, he's a waiter…which is pretty much what every other actor I know does to make a living as well.
So Andrew heads home and attends his mother's funeral, which contains a horrific musical tribute that would make William Hung poke out his own eardrums. While at the cemetery, he runs into his old buddy Mark (Peter Sarsgaard), who is gainfully employed as a gravedigger. They have that same conversation that we all have when seeing friends from high school. The exchanging of pleasantries, awkward shuffling, even more awkward pauses…you know, all the good stuff that makes High School Reunions events to cherish.
This was me in high school...except for the hot girls, good looks, and talent.
Later at home, Andrew and his father (Ian Holm) interact with all the warmth of Martha Stewart and a federal prosecutor. They finally find something to talk about when Andrew tells his dad about some headaches he's been getting. Dad immediately sends him to see a colleague of his…because this couldn't possibly be because the kid's taken more anti-depressants than a "Friends Of Zoloft" convention.
When he goes to see this doc, he manages to meet a girl, the lucky dickens. I say lucky because the girl is Sam (Portman). Not only is she the cutest girl who ever lived, she's kind of weird and spazzy as well…but in that GOOD way. She's also full of life…the polar opposite of Andrew's chemically-induced zombie. And, because the first rule of movies is that opposites attract, you know this new-found friendship is going to go places.
"Hey...I'm just THRILLED to be in something other than a George Lucas movie!"
Oh, and there's one other thing…Andrew left all his anti-depressants at home. This means that he's drug-free for the first time in years. This plays a big part in the weekend that we see…he grows, matures, and becomes truer to himself now that medicine isn't holding him back. The results? The best damn weekend of his life, whether he knows it or not.
In a movie like this, you have to ask yourself: which Zach Braff is best? Is it the actor, the director, or the writer? Actually, if you're like me, the FIRST question that you ask yourself is "I wonder if the snack bar has those nachos that I like so much?" Then, maybe, "Did I remember to feed the fish before I left?" followed by "Mmmm…a Filet O' Fish would be good right now, wouldn't it?" I was really hungry when I saw this movie.
"Wow, Zach...I'm glad you decided to shoot this picture in beautiful, sunny NEW FUCKING JERSEY!"
Being a writer myself, I have to say that the best Braff is the Writer Braff. This movie is packed to the brim with solid dialogue, great visual gags and - most importantly - fantastic characters. Of course, Actor Braff and Director Braff are no slouches either.
Writer Braff breathes incredible life into the characters in this script. They're all pretty strange folks, but they're very charming in their own ways. He creates fun characters, all with their own particular quirks, and then plunks Andrew into situations where he's as confused as we are. The first time you see the Knight, you'll know what I mean. He's also created some very funny and imaginative situations to put these guys in. But the characters don't stop at just being quirky…they're actually pretty well realized, for the most part.
Fortunately, Braff is able to easily adapt to his environment in order to evade potential predators.
A lot of the gags are visual as well, and Braff has a keen eye for visual absurdity. Some of the biggest laughs in the movie aren't based on what the characters say, it's a quick look at something completely unexpected. I don't want to give any of them away…you'll just have to trust me…and you trust me, don't you? Even though I appear to be the only critic (and moviegoer, for that matter) in the free world who didn't like Collateral? You still trust me…don't you? Oh please…oh God PLEASE trust me!!
Sorry…my neuroses are acting up again.
I'm a fan of Braff's work on Scrubs, which has always struck me as a near-perfect balance of silly humour and sad moments. It's the only sitcom that's ever made me cry…and more than once, I might add. There was a recent episode (the Emmy-nominated "My Screw Up," with Brendan Fraser) that was just incredible. Then again, I'm a big softie. I also got weepy at the end of The Bad News Bears, so what do I know?
At any rate…this isn't a tear-jerker, but there are many very somber moments, and Braff has paced it well enough that you get just the right amounts of both comedy and drama.
"Okay. nobody TOLD us we were going to be on a crappy website..."
Almost all of the performances in this movie are solid as well. Braff is very good here, but he's surrounded himself with so many fantastic actors that his performance gets overshadowed a lot. Portman is absolutely perfect as Sam…which is a breath of fresh air after her relatively flat Star Wars performances. Sarsgaard gives another fantastic, low-key performance, this time as a morally questionable slacker. Ian Holm is really great too…for what we see of him.
And this is the only real flaw in the movie: some of these characters are so good, they feel under-used. I would have easily sat through the same movie if it was 20 minutes longer, but only if the new stuff dealt with Sarsgaard's and Holm's characters…especially Holm's. They're great, but the movie left me wanting to know more about these guys. With any luck, some good deleted scenes will be on the DVD.
Every Star Wars nerd on the planet HATES Zach right now.
There's one other thing that didn't quite sit right with me. There is a situation near the end of the movie (and I won't spoil it) involving a "present" that Mark has for Andrew. The first time I saw this movie, it seemed a little too…easy. A little too convenient. I didn't see how the situation - as presented - could have happened that way in the timeline of the movie. I thought I had missed something. So then, after seeing the critic's screening, I managed to talk my way into a promo screening of it as well. And it wasn't until I was on my way home from the second screening that I was able to figure out EXACTLY how it could have happened in that timeline. Now, I'm not saying that I want things HANDED to me, but I think Braff made me work a little to hard to figure this one out. But, to be fair, I can be kind of a dullard at times.
But none of that takes away from what I found to be a very funny, touching, and enjoyable movie. If this is what Braff can do with his first movie, I'd like to see what he does in a few years. You never know…this kid just might have a Citizen Kane up his sleeve.
But if you do, Zach, take my advice…make sure there's someone around to hear your Kane's dying words. Otherwise you'll have smartass, unpaid internet critics making fun of you years from now. Just a tip.
